Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

Chapter 629: Getting to the top but with twists and turns

"Cough~cough~cough~" Thirty-four-year-old Li Dingguo tried hard to suppress his cough, with a look of sadness in his eyes. Since receiving the secret edict from Emperor Yongli, his mood could not be calm for a long time. He was moved by the emperor's trust and angry at the domineering behavior of his sworn brother Sun Kewang. Over the years, he has been jealous and excluded by his sworn brother, but he did not expect that his sworn brother was so ambitious. He was not satisfied with being the "lord" who was inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people. He also wanted to be the emperor! My adopted brother, my adopted brother, what a hero my adoptive father was back then. Before he died, he even stated that he was still alive and ordered four of my brothers to return to the Ming Dynasty. How could you be so virtuous and dare to do such a disobedient and unethical thing? Besides, the Manchus are invading China, and at a time when we are all fighting against the outside world, how can you provoke civil strife and take advantage of foreigners?

Li Dingguo's original intention was to join forces with Zheng Chenggong to regain Guangdong before considering the move. At that time, he planned to join forces with Zheng Chenggong, Zhang Mingzhen, and even Lu Jianguo to request Emperor Yongli to return to Guangdong. I believe that with so many forces coming forward together, it would be difficult for the sworn brother to refuse. Unexpectedly, before Guangdong was conquered, the sworn brother was already eager to ascend to the supreme position. His painstaking plan was about to come to nothing. What should he do? In a hurry, his old illness of coughing and asthma recurred, so he had to stay in Gaozhou to recuperate and ordered his men to attack Xinhui.

"King Anxi, you are the leader of the entire army. The soldiers are all counting on you. Don't be anxious." A warm voice came next to his ear. It was Jin Weixin. Jin Weixin, whose original name was Jin Gongzhi and whose courtesy name was Chulin, had just passed the imperial examination this year and joined Li Dingguo's army out of admiration. The two are similar in age and get on well with each other. Jin Juren often told Li Dingguo "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and secretly rebuked Sun Kewang, the "lord of the country", for Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao, and hoped that Li Dingguo could become Zhuge Liang. After hearing this, Li Dingguo was greatly moved and said: "I dare not Compared with Zhuge Kongming, he only hopes to become loyal ministers like Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, and Jiang Wei."

"Chu Lin, what do you think I should do?" Li Dingguo trusted Jin Weixin and asked him for his opinion.

"King Anxi, I think Sun Kewang's rebellion is unpopular, and the Holy Emperor is not in danger of being dethroned yet. You should stick to the original strategy, contact the country's surname, attack from the east and west, and capture Guangdong quickly, and then gather the power of the southeastern princes and righteous troops from all over to force The king agrees that the Holy Spirit will remain in Guangdong."

"Chu Lin, we want to go together. Yu sent someone to contact Guoxing and asked him to attack Guangdong from Fujian by sea. We attack from land. Shang Kexi, Geng Jimao, and Li Shutai (Governor of Guangdong and Guangdong in the Qing Dynasty) must be the first and last. It’s difficult to take care of, so Guangdong is so easy to get. It’s just that the Qing army, whose name is Guozhou, has moved in Fujian, and has been delayed. Alas! I can’t wait any longer, I want to go to Xinhui to command the battle in person," Li Dingguo said with a flushed face.

"King Anxi, you are physically disobeying me, so I'd better send a general to go there." Jin Weixin was shocked.

"It doesn't matter, I'm almost healed," Li Dingguo said with a smile, supporting his sick body, "If you want to capture Guangdong quickly, I have to personally command it."

After forcing the emperor to issue an edict to kill eighteen loyal ministers who were loyal to him, Sun Kewang was very proud. Kill these rotten scholars who are loyal to Yongli's son. Who will dare to stop Gu from becoming emperor in the future? Yongli's son personally issued an edict to kill loyal ministers. Who else is willing to sacrifice his life for him in the future?
He wanted to be emperor for a long time. Last year, someone found a very large tree by the Ziyang River in Baoqing Prefecture, Hunan. After admiring it, he named it the "King of Trees" and carved the words "Sui Guisi, Lord of the Qin Kingdom" on the trunk; this year, the provincial examination was held in Kunming, and the title list "Engraved with the words "Qin Jiawu Ke"; as for setting up cabinet, six ministries, Kedao and other officials in Guiyang, appointing local civil servants and generals by themselves, changing the official seal from the Ming Dynasty's nine-fold seal script to eight-fold and other small tricks, there are even more tricks. To put it bluntly, the imperial system has already taken its own form.

Sun Kewang was not satisfied. He wanted to be a real emperor. There was no point in being a fake emperor. For this reason, he continued to make various preparations intensively. The biggest obstacle was his sworn brother Li Dingguo. To this end, he sent Liu Zhenguo and Guan Youcai to lead troops to station in Tianzhou (today's Tianyang, Guangxi) to block Li Dingguo's army from moving northward. He even ordered that "every land that Dingguo must pass must be burned to cud." "Food, in order to prevent its return"; as for matters such as establishing rituals and shaping public opinion, a group of confidants have already completed it. The confidants were so thoughtful that they even invited the tablets of Zhang Xianzhong and his grandfather to be placed in the Ancestral Temple, one on the left and one on the right next to the tablets of Emperor Taizu Gao. In the end, even Zhengshuo from the Zhu Ming court was abandoned.

"Your Majesty, everything is ready. Qin Tian monitors that the auspicious day will be in two months. Please move to Kunming to ascend the throne. All the officials have gone to Kunming," Fang Yuxuan, editor of the Hanlin Academy, said with excitement. .

"Well, let's go to Kunming." Sun Kewang panicked for no reason, gritted his teeth and roared in a low voice. After waiting for a long time, it’s finally today. How can we not be excited?
However, Sun Kewang, who was born as a farmer, could never understand the pedantry and stubbornness of the Ming Dynasty literati. I originally thought that forcing Emperor Yongli to issue an edict to kill the eighteen scholars would make Emperor Yongli lose his support and frighten the scholars who supported him. Unexpectedly, those corrupt scholars were so unreasonable that instead of blaming the emperor, they blamed Sun Guozhu. On the throne, he scolded him for having no father-in-law and being good at killing ministers. In order to win Shilin's support for his proclaimed emperor, before going to Kunming, he sent people to contact the famous families in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, hoping that they would submit some support forms for him. However, most of them are opposed and silent, and very few supporters express their opinions. News one after another that the great scholars refused to persuade him to enter came to Sun Kewang's ears. The closer he got to Kunming, the darker the face of the king became. Bad news came one after another. Not only Shilin, but also Zheng Chenggong, Zhang Mingzhen, Zhang Huangyan, Lu Jianguo, Kuidong Shisanjia and other righteous teachers came out to express their opposition. Compared with those rotten scholars, the attitude of these local powerful factions made Sun Kewang even more worried. If Gu was proclaimed emperor, what would happen if they united to attack Gu?

At this time, Sun Kewang wanted to eat meat but was afraid of burning it, so he thought of waiting and watching for a while. However, his confidants did not agree, and they pushed him towards the supreme throne. Fang Yuxuan and others even planned to change the name of the country to Houming, and they worked day and night to seek meditation.

Morale can be boosted but not let down. Sun Kewang naturally understood this truth. Although he hesitated in his heart, he did not say anything and allowed his confidants to do whatever they wanted.

Finally arrived in Kunming, on the promised auspicious day. A group of confidants, Prince Shangli of Guyuan, Fan Kuang, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Ma Zhaoxi, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Ren Xuan, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Wannian Ce, the Minister of the Ministry of War, Wang Yinglong, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Fang Yuxuan, Zheng Guo, Wang Aixiu, editors of the Hanlin Academy, etc. have already prepared. Dragon robe, waiting beside the royal road.

"Please change your clothes, Lord," Ren Zan, the Minister of Rites, said to Sun Kewang with a smile.

"Yes." Sun Kewang nodded and walked forward under the guidance of the etiquette officer.

"Crack~"

"Boom~"

Suddenly there was lightning and thunder, and there was heavy wind and rain. Sun Kewang suddenly stopped and sighed, "It's raining heavily, so the enthronement ceremony cannot be held today. The enthronement ceremony should be rescheduled."

(End of this chapter)