In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 599 Everything is in vain

Just when Zhao Zhen's fleet was fighting with the Zhejiang navy.

Zhao Yi's ship has already docked in Dinghai.

Veteran Liu Zheng personally led a team of people to greet them on the shore.

"Greetings to the Ming King."

"Director Liu, please stand up." Zhao Yi's face was full of smiles, and he was overjoyed.

This time we were able to take the lead successfully thanks to the help of Liu Zheng and the Qin family.

Especially after the death of Meng Gong, Wang Jian and Yu Jie, and the retirement of Lu Wende, Liu Zheng is currently the most prestigious and influential person in the Song Dynasty army.

He held Liu Zheng's arms tightly and helped Liu Zheng up himself.

Both of them could feel the excitement in each other's hearts, and they couldn't help but tremble slightly.

Everyone can understand that if this matter fails, we will die.

"Time is running out. Please get on the train immediately, Your Majesty. I have already arranged the train." Liu Zheng said in a deep voice.

"You can't take the train." Zhao Yi shook his head.

"Ah" Liu Zheng was very surprised.

"There are Zhao Zhen's troops near the capital, they will definitely intercept the train."

Liu Zheng suddenly realized what was going on. He had also heard that Fan Wenhu's troops were approaching the capital.

By then, they will definitely occupy the railway station, blocking the reinforcements from outside and preventing Zhao Yi from approaching by car from inside.

"Prepare horses for me, two horses for each person." Zhao Yi said.

Liu Zheng did not hesitate and immediately sent someone to find a horse.

Zhao Yi did not plan to bring many people to Beijing. He wanted to change into casual clothes and pretend to be an ordinary person.

Then he looked at the generals, pointed at the veteran general Song Xiande and the guard leader Qin Dashan, and finally looked at Liu Zheng: "Can Governor Liu still mount his horse?"

Liu Zheng laughed: "It's still possible."

There was an uproar all around, as no one had expected that Zhao Yi would only bring two veteran generals, besides the personal guard Qin Dashan, to rush to the capital.

Zhao Yi asked the others to follow slowly from behind and not to be too obvious.

"The capital has more than 100,000 elite imperial guards. It will be useless even if you have more troops."

"Only by controlling the imperial guards can we stabilize the overall situation."

"I have Governor Liu and General Song, which is enough for me."

Everyone was excited and felt that Zhao Yi had the aura of an emperor.

"Let's go, set out and create a new era for the Song Dynasty." Zhao Yi finally mounted his horse, broke the whip, looked at the civil and military officials, and then, with a fierce whip, he rushed out first.

Liu Zheng, Song Xiande and others hurriedly followed.

The three men and six riders rode as fast as thunder and lightning, heading north.
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Capital.

Although it is April, the capital has been covered with dark clouds these days, as if a storm is about to come.

Now all the officials in the capital know that something has happened to the emperor, and Prince Ming and Prince Yan are rushing to the capital.

Everyone subconsciously believed that whoever entered the capital first would be able to determine the overall situation.

Now the eyes of the entire capital are on Zhang Ping.

Zhang Ping is the son of Zhang Xuan, the commander-in-chief of the Palace Guards, and the head of the imperial guards of more than 100,000 in number.

When Zhang Xuan was young, he followed Meng Gong to garrison Sichuan and participated in many battles including those against Western Xia and Mongolia.

Later, Zhang Xuan served as governor of Daming Province, but his relationship with Ming King Zhao Yi did not seem to be handled well.

At that time, Zhao Yi wanted to massacre the Persians and suppress them by force, but Zhang Xuan did not express his support immediately.

Not long after, Zhao Yi transferred Zhang Xuan and replaced him with Liu Zheng, and from then on he established a good relationship with Liu Zheng.

Now that the two princes have come to Beijing, most people are optimistic about the Prince of Yan.

However, the Zhejiang Military Commissioner intercepted the Prince of Yan with a large army by land and sea, so on the surface, it is hard to say which side will be able to enter the capital first.

For the Prince of Yan, all he had to do was to advance into Hebei, where Fan Wenhu's troops would provide support, and Lu Wenhuan's army was also approaching.

For King Ming, his situation is more difficult than that of King Yan. Even if King Ming can enter the capital, it is unknown whether Zhang Ping will help him.

Zhang Ping, the commander-in-chief of the Palace Guards, has not been home for two days.

Zhang Ping has been staying in the Black Tiger Army camp of the Palace Front Division for the past two days.

The commander of the Black Tiger Army, Meng Zhilin, is the third son of Meng Jing and is also Zhang Ping's confidant.

The reason he stayed here was also because there was a telegraph here.

There were more than 100,000 imperial guards in the capital, including dozens of armies, but only three of them had telegraphs.

Routine information exchanges depend on the Intelligence Department and the Ministry of War.

But a few days ago, Zhang Ping discovered that there were no telegrams from the Intelligence Department and the Ministry of War, and felt something was wrong, so he immediately came to the Black Tiger Army.

Not long after, Zhang Ping received a telegram from Zhao Xie and Meng Zhile.

Meng Zhile and Meng Zhilin are cousins, so the meaning is quite obvious.

But Zhang Ping couldn't make a decision for a while.

Because he did not have a complete military command, he did not dare to move troops without authorization.

Early this morning, he came to the Black Tiger Army's telegraph room.

Meng Zhilin was already sitting inside. He saw Zhang Ping come forward to pay his respects first and said, "Commander-in-chief."

"Is there any latest news?" Zhang Ping asked in a deep voice.

"Fan Wenhu ignored the orders of the imperial court and the Ministry of War and continued to lead his army forward. He is now close to Tongzhou, only a few dozen miles away from the capital—"

"Has Minister of War Cao Chi not returned yet?" Zhang Ping asked.

"No."

Alas, Zhang Ping sighed. At this critical juncture, Cao Chi has not returned yet, so the command of the Ministry of War will be in the hands of Zhao Yi.

He suddenly felt that Zhao Yi was a little scary. He was afraid that he had planned everything before the emperor got into trouble.

Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that all the people who should be in the capital are not here?

"What about the news about King Yan and King Ming?"

"The Prince of Yan is near the Bohai Sea, fighting with the Zhejiang Navy. He has no chance to go ashore for the time being--"

"There has been no news from the King--"

Zhang Ping's face turned even uglier.

The most critical and important Imperial City Department, Intelligence Department and Embroidered Uniform Guard of the court are now in Zhao Yi's hands, so the dynamics of Prince Yan are clear, but no one knows the whereabouts of Prince Ming Zhao Yi.

"Ding ding ding" Suddenly, the telegraph rang.

Zhang Ping and Meng Zhilin looked over quickly.

Soon they received news from the Ministry of War.

The rebel Fan Wenhu led a large army to approach the capital, and the Cabinet and the Ministry of War planned to send the Black Tiger Army out of the city to suppress the counterattack.

"What?" Zhang Ping's face changed drastically.

"The imperial edict has arrived."

At this moment, the voice of the imperial edict suddenly came from outside.

The soldiers were all puzzled. Where did the imperial edict come from when the emperor was not there?
An eunuch came into the palace, followed by an official from the Ministry of War. They took out the imperial edict and read it out.

The general idea was that Fan Wenhu had rebelled, so Zhang Ping sent the Black Tiger Army out of the town to suppress the rebellion.

After reading the imperial edict, the eunuch handed it to Zhang Ping.

Zhang Ping looked at it carefully. The imperial edict not only had the emperor's seal, but also the seal of Empress Xie. The cabinet and the Ministry of War also had corresponding written orders.

"Where is the military token? Do you have it?" Zhang Ping asked with a cold face.

The faces of the officials from the Ministry of War changed slightly. The emperor took a military order with him when he left, but he did not take the imperial seal with him.

They had the imperial seal, but lacked a military token.

"Isn't the imperial edict enough?" said the eunuch.

"The imperial edict can be forged, but I will not send troops unless I see the military order." Zhang Ping said sternly.

"How dare you Zhang Ping! How could you forge an imperial edict?" The eunuch was shocked and frightened.

"Hey, both of you, calm down." The military official tried to mediate between the two sides, and at the same time said to Zhang Ping meaningfully, "Does Marshal Zhang have to see the military order before he is willing to send out the troops?"

"The court has its own laws, and no one dares to break them." "Okay, Marshal Zhang's words are enough, let's go." The official from the Ministry of War said nothing, winked, turned around and left.

This imperial edict was of no use at all, but the officials of the Ministry of War were still very happy.

Zhang Xuan said that without the military token, no troops could be mobilized.

Now the military tokens in the capital are incomplete, without the emperor's, which means no one can mobilize troops.

But there are people in the capital who can mobilize troops.

Chen Sheng had tens of thousands of troops from the Imperial City Department.

He doesn't need to mobilize many people, just some of them will be useful.

The Imperial City.

Queen Xie sat in the hall with a pale face.

None of the eunuchs around her were there.

Several guards from the Imperial City Department stood quietly behind her.

Chen Sheng was using her queen's seal to stamp documents, but she dared not say anything.

This is simply equivalent to a mutiny and rebellion? The nature is even worse than when Shi Miyuan falsely conveyed the imperial edict to kill Han Tuozhou.

When the emperor went out, the imperial seal was always kept in the cabinet.

Now Chen Sheng forced Empress Xie to take her seal. As the cabinet had the emperor's seal, they could do whatever they wanted, except for not being able to mobilize troops.

Today, Chen Sheng and the cabinet wrote dozens of notices in a row.

Fan Wenhu was removed from his post as the general of Jinzhou, and Lu Wenhuan was removed from his post as the governor of Liaodong.

Remove Zhao Xie from his position as vassal king.

After dozens of imperial edicts were drafted, they would soon be sent to all parts of the country, dismissing all people related to Zhao Chen and designating them as traitors.

Chen Sheng excitedly took the seal and stamped dozens of them in one breath. Finally, he had someone carry it out of Queen Xie's back hall.

A team of Imperial City Division personnel surrounded the area.

Chen Sheng said in a deep voice: "No one can come in or go out."

"promise."

After he finished speaking, he was still worried, so he looked at everyone and said loudly: "After this is successful, everyone will be a noble of the Song Dynasty, and the title will be passed down from generation to generation, and your descendants will be blessed with wealth and honor."

"Thank you for your advice." The troops were very excited.

Chen Sheng left quickly with a few people. When they reached the outside of Fengming Palace, they saw a team of Imperial City Bureau personnel passing by.

When the group of people saw Chen Sheng, they all bowed to him.

But the team leader was still a little surprised because it was the first time he saw Chen Sheng coming to the harem.

The Imperial City Division had nearly 10,000 troops, and Chen Sheng couldn't command all of them.

So he could only drive some of his trusted men to do this.

The group of people outside are not his subordinates.

"The court is in a turbulent time. The troops must work hard and not be negligent." Chen Sheng said a few polite words and left.

The people outside respectfully saw him off, but they didn't know that someone in the harem had already kidnapped Empress Xie and sealed off the harem.

After Chen Sheng left, he quickly came to a corner.

Several subordinates followed Chen Sheng and stared blankly in the direction Chen Sheng was looking. This was the East Water Gate, and everyone didn't know why Chen Sheng was looking at the East Water Gate.

After Chen Sheng looked at it for a while, he pointed down and said, "When the previous emperor died, Qian Bin, the imperial city official, ambushed people in the palace and wanted to kill the emperor."

"Your Majesty escaped from the palace through the waterway of the East Water Gate."

All the confidants suddenly realized.

"You stay here well, the King will enter the palace from here."

"promise."

The troops then understood.

Because Chen Sheng could not fully control the Imperial City Administration, Zhao Yi might not be able to enter the city through the palace gate. But it was okay, he could enter through this water gate.

Outside the South Gate of the Capital.

Tongzhou Beiguan Bridge.

This place is only more than thirty miles away from the capital.

Beiguan Bridge is the first main road from Tongzhou to the capital. It was expanded in the 30th year of Yuanzhen and can accommodate four horses running side by side.

Unexpectedly, when Fan Wenhu's vanguard arrived at the bridge, they were stunned.

The bridge was crowded with carriages and people, and a large number of refugees and beggars were sitting on the bridge with their families.

There were also people lighting fires and cooking on the bridge, which directly blocked the bridge. At first glance, there were at least tens of thousands of people on the scene.

"Damn it." Fan Wenhu was leading a large army and was about to force his way into the capital, but he didn't expect someone to do something like this.

"Come here." Fan Wenhu called a group of people over, thinking that once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back, and ordered his men to clear the way: "No matter what method you use, drive these people away. The army needs to cross the bridge, hurry up."

"promise."

The subordinate immediately led his men over there.

After reaching the bridge, someone raised his gun into the air and fired more than ten shots.

But the people on the bridge remained indifferent and everyone remained on it.

Several women holding children came over and called out, "Sir, give us something to eat."

"Get out of the way! Where are you from? Get out of the way! The army is coming."

"We are refugees from Hebei--" a woman explained the reason.

It turned out that there was a recent flood in Hebei Province. An official dam suddenly collapsed in the middle of the night and flooded many villages.

The local government immediately organized the refugees to go to the capital, and then arranged them all at Beiguan Bridge, waiting for help.

The government said that as long as everyone stayed on Beiguan Bridge, they would receive food, but if they left Beiguan Bridge, they would not receive food.

"Damn it." The military officer pointed his gun at them, and saw women holding their children, looking at them pitifully. How could he bring himself to do that?

He returned helplessly and reported the situation to Fan Wenhu.

"Fuck!" Fan Wenhu stomped his feet. He looked ahead grimly, knowing that someone was deliberately doing something bad.

But if he dares to lead people to kill, it will be a big deal.

Fan Wenhu hesitated again and again, but still didn't dare to kill him.

He tried to send people to push away the refugees, but the refugees resisted fiercely and were not afraid of the large army.

Because there had not been a war in the Song Dynasty for many years, the people did not believe that the army would dare to shoot at them.

The two sides fought for a while, but to no avail. Fan Wenhu became furious and went back to look at the map.

"Or we can take a detour of a few dozen miles and take the Lugou Bridge," one of the subordinates suggested.

Fan Wenhu had no choice but to lead his army around to Lugou Bridge.

When we arrived at Lugou Bridge, we saw the same scene, with refugees everywhere. According to the refugees, it was not easy to enter the capital now, and there were refugees everywhere inside and outside the city gates.

Fan Wenhu was furious. The capital was right in front of him, but his army could not enter.

Just then, an official and his men came on horseback and found Fan Wenhu.

In front of everyone, the official took out the imperial edict and announced that Fan Wenhu was removed from his post as the general of the Jinzhou garrison and would be replaced by a deputy general.

"Bullshit! Come, arrest him." Fan Wenhu gave an order and his subordinates immediately arrested the person who read the imperial edict.

The deputy generals around him looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

"Fan Wenhu, are you determined to rebel? Zhao Chen is blocked in Bohai and cannot enter the capital at all. Ming Wang Zhao Yi has already entered the palace. The situation is settled. Why are you still surrendering?" the official shouted.

"Shut up." Bang, Fan Wenhu rushed forward and punched the official on the temple, knocking him unconscious.

When he turned around to look at the generals around him, everyone had a different expression and was obviously afraid.

"Don't worry, everyone. Governor Lu's army has arrived and victory is at hand." Fan Wenhu comforted the troops.

But all the troops looked panicked.

It would be useless for Lu Wenhuan's army to come in, as there are hundreds of thousands of imperial guards in the capital. The key is whether Zhao Chen can enter the capital.

Since Zhao Xie could not enter the capital, everything was in vain.

(End of this chapter)