On the fourteenth day of the first month of the fifteenth year of Shenwu, in the capital of the Ming Empire, in the city of Beijing, the Donghua Gate at the east gate of the imperial city, Zhu Hongsan's two sons fought together for the throne.

Now it is getting late, Zhu Jiang ordered people to put torches and fight at night, there are more than 4,000 people gathered here in Donghua Gate, there are 3,000 people in Zhu Jiang outside the city, 1,000 Jinyi guards in the city, and Zhu Hai temporarily transferred seven or eight hundred sturdy eunuchs in the palace to help, so that the general will block Zhu Jiang's onslaught.

Zhu Jiang's subordinates are not ordinary soldiers, his five hundred personal soldiers are all old subordinates who followed him on the expedition to Japan, not to mention killing people like hemp, but they encountered obstacles here at Donghua Gate, and they did not attack the city for more than half an hour.

In fact, this can't be blamed for Zhu Jiang's soldiers' lack of effort, but Zhu Jiang's manpower is too small. Sun Tzu's Art of War says that ten are to encircle, five are to attack, and multiple is to fight. Now Zhu Jiang has 3,000 men, which is only twice the number of troops defending the city, and it is okay to fight hand-to-hand battles, but this kind of siege war is really undermanned.

Zhu Jiang stood under the city and watched but couldn't attack it, he was very anxious, this kind of thing must not be delayed, the sooner it was solved, the better, Zhu Jiang said to Ma Rufeng beside him: "Uncle, why hasn't the cannon been shipped yet?" ”

Ma Rufeng was just about to speak, when a general ran to report: "Lord Wang, Lord Admiral, something has happened in Chongwenmen!" ”

It turned out that Ma Rufeng sent someone to Nancheng to get the cannon at the beginning of the operation, and the closest road from Nancheng to Dongcheng was through Chongwenmen, which was originally under the control of Ding Changsheng, and it was also Ma Rufeng's own person, so Ma Rufeng was not too worried. But the person who knew that Ding Changsheng had taken refuge with the prince behind his back and went to Nancheng to transport cannons arrived at Chongwenmen, where Ding Changsheng was not allowed to leave the city, and the two gangs finally fought, and this one always came back to report the news.

After listening to the general manager, Zhu Jiang scolded Ding Changsheng: "Uncle, isn't this Ding Changsheng your person?" How did this happen? ”

Ma Rufeng doesn't know what's going on, but now the military situation is urgent, there are three city gates in the inner city of Beijing near the south city, namely Chongwen Gate, Zhengyang Gate and Xuanwu Gate, and now the nearest Chongwen Gate can not go, Zhengyang Gate is the gate of the Son of Heaven, usually not open, then you can only go to the Xuanwu Gate in the west city.

The armory is in the south of the city to fight the dog lane, do not go to the Chongwen Gate to pass through the entire south city, and then take the Xuanwu Gate into the inner city, and then around the palace to the Donghua Gate here, so that the distance is tripled, there are not two hours to catch up.

Zhu Jiang scolded Ding Changsheng here, but he had no choice but to send someone out from Xuanwumen to transport cannons. The walls of the Imperial City of Beijing are six meters thick, and the gates are all clad in iron and steel, and they cannot be opened without cannons.

Zhu Jiang grabbed Jin Daoming and shouted: "Jin Daoming, you take five hundred people to Nancheng to transport cannons, and if anyone blocks it, kill them immediately!" Jiang Pengju, the time has come to fight hard, you and this king will go up the ladder to attack the city together! ”

Zhu Jiang is now on the fence and ready to attack the city by himself. But Ma Rufeng hurriedly grabbed him and said: "Lord Wang, don't take risks, we still have a backhand without the cannon, I have already sent people to the Xishan camp and the Tongzhou camp, and after a while Qi Huan and Meng Qingjiu will be able to arrive, as long as they arrive, we will win!" ”

Qi Huan and Meng Qingjiu each have 10,000 horses in their hands, as long as one side enters the city, then Zhu Jiang's side will win. Zhu Jiang nodded when he heard Ma Rufeng say this, and then dispelled the idea of doing it himself.

Zhu Jiang is waiting for news from Qi Huan, the chief soldier of Xishan, but Qi Huan is also in trouble.

According to the agreement between Qi Huan and Ma Rufeng, if there is chaos in Beijing on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Qi Huan can lead troops into the city under the pretext of entering the town to suppress the chaotic people. But who thought that Zhu Jiang would have to do it in advance, which made Qi Huan scramble.

On the afternoon of the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Qi Huan received Zhu Jiang's warrant when it was almost Shen, and when he saw that King Qin was going to do it tonight, Qi Huan had no choice but to beat the drum directly to gather the generals.

After Qi Huan's lieutenant and four generals arrived, Qi Huan took out King Qin's warrant and said: "There is chaos in the capital, some chaotic people are making trouble on the occasion of the Lantern Festival, and now King Qin has ordered our department to enter the city quickly!" ”

Qi Huan was the captain of Jiang Pengju's personal soldiers during the Northern Expedition, and Jiang Pengju was unlucky, and he also followed him to the Xishan camp as a general. The staff general is almost the same as the regiment commander in the Ming army system, which is similar to Qi Huan's previous position in the army. The general in the Xishan battalion is also a senior officer, but after all, there are adjutant generals and a general soldier above, who knows that half a month ago, the general soldier Zhang Guangsi asked for leave, and Ma Rufeng directly promoted Qi Huan to become the general soldier of Xishan.

Qi Huan was promoted two levels in a row to become the chief soldier, but the deputy generals and generals under him were a little unconvinced, what are you Qi Huan according to his qualifications? Didn't he just rely on Jiang Peng's thigh to become a general, and now he actually climbed on top of us.

The lieutenant general heard Qi Huan say this and asked, "My lord, there are still 30,000 horses in the city, why do you want to send us into the city?" Even if we are transferred, can we have a holy decree or an official document from the Military Aircraft Department and the Military Department? ”

Qi Huan heard someone questioning his order and said angrily: "Vice General Zhu, this is the warrant of the King of Qin, with the seal of the King of Qin on it, do you dare to disobey?" ”

Zhu Hongsan ordered Zhu Jiang to assist in the management of the infantry and lead the yamen five years ago, so it was reasonable for the King of Qin to give this order, and Vice General Zhu thought about it and was not ready to argue with Qi Huan, so he had to retreat and take the order.

Qi Huan was satisfied when he saw that the generals were convinced, as long as the matter was over, King Qin ascended the throne, and then he would be cleaning up these unruly guys one by one.

Qi Huan was just about to issue an order, when he heard a crisp female voice outside: "Who said that there are rioters in the city?" ”

The Xishan camp was the first line of defense to protect the capital, but now it let a woman easily blend in, Qi Huan said angrily: "Who? Who speaks outside the big tent? Don't you know that this is a military stronghold? ”

As soon as Qi Huan finished speaking, the curtain was raised, and more than 20 soldiers came in, and the last one to come in was a woman in men's clothes. Qi Huan didn't recognize who this woman was, but Vice General Zhu confirmed that this woman was the emperor's eldest princess, Princess Zhu Luo of Changping.

Zhu Luo walked into the house and looked at the generals in the house, and said to the deputy general surnamed Zhu: "Zhu Lao Wu, this palace thinks that you are in charge of the Xishan camp, why not?" You are the righteous son of the father of the palace, why are you still just a lieutenant general? ”

That Vice General Zhu is called Zhu Xin, who was one of the five orphans adopted by Zhu Hongsan back then, and was named after Ren Yili Zhixin, this Zhu Xin is the youngest, so he is the fifth. These people were Zhu Luo and Zhao Hu's playmates when they were in Wuchang, and after Zhao Hu became an adult, the four of them went to Nanyang to serve as soldiers, and only this Zhu Xin stayed in Guangzhou.

Zhu Xin saw that it was Zhu Luo coming, so he hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down on one knee and saluted: "The minister has seen the eldest princess!" ”

As soon as Zhu Xin said this, everyone knew who the arrogant woman in front of him was, it was His Majesty's favorite eldest daughter, Princess Zhu Luo of Changping.

Qi Huan knew that Zhu Luo was unreasonable, but the current opportunity could not be left behind, Qi Huan did not step forward to salute, but stood in the big tent and said: "Your Royal Highness the Princess, the last general is inconvenient to salute because of his armor, and there is an important military situation in the Xishan camp tonight, please withdraw the eldest princess, and talk about it tomorrow!" ”

Zhu Luo came today to be entrusted by his younger brother Zhu Hai to control the Xishan camp, where he could listen to Qi Huan's words.

"Got important military intelligence? It just so happens that the palace also has a military order in its hand, so take a look! After Zhu Luo finished speaking, he took out a piece of paper in his hand and handed it to Zhu Xin.

Zhu Xin opened it and saw that it was very simple, Zhu Jiang, the king of Qin in the city, attacked the palace and ordered Zhu Luo to relieve Qi Huan of the duties of the general army of Xishan, and lead the soldiers into the town to suppress the rebellion of the king of Qin. At the end of the letter, it was stamped with a large seal of customs defense, and Zhu Xin saw that it was Zhu Hongyi's guard and the minister of the interior.

Since the beginning of the fourth year of Shenwu, Zhu Hongyi's official position has been pushed to the end by Zhu Hongsan, and only retains the position of a minister of the guard, although he is nominally in charge of military affairs inside and outside the capital, but the Praetorian Guard is directly managed by Zhu Hongsan, Jinyiwei is Zhu Hongsan's cronie Ding Wei is in charge, and the infantry commander Yamen is in charge of Ma Rufeng, a confidant of King Qin, so Zhu Hongyi's position is completely deaf ears and decorations. However, the authority of the Minister of the Interior of the Guard can also be managed to the Xishan Battalion, so this order is not overstepping.

Zhu Hongyi didn't see the prince Zhu Hai at all in order to avoid suspicion, Zhu Hai had no choice but to beg his sister, but Zhu Luo loved his younger brother and agreed. Originally, Zhu Luo thought that this was a simple question, Zhu Hongyi was originally a princeling, and he would definitely be able to help in this crisis, but he didn't expect that after seeing Zhu Hongyi explain his intentions, Zhu Hongyi completely disagreed.

Zhu Luo was dumbfounded, Zhu Hongyi had never said anything serious to this daughter-in-law before, but he never let go of his mouth in this matter, and asked Zhu Luo to take care of the affairs between the princes.

There was no way, Zhu Luo had to steal Zhu Hongyi's customs defense seal, and then wrote a military order by himself, covered the customs defense and brought it out.

Qi Huan listened to Zhu Xin read out Zhu Hongyi's military order, stepped forward to take the military order and watched it carefully, and saw the flaws at once.

Although Zhu Hongyi's ministers of the guard don't care about anything, but there is a fixed format for the military orders to come and go, and the paper must also be fixed on the paper, the preface written in this military order does not match the afterword, and the paper is just ordinary stationery.

Qi Huan sneered: "Your Royal Highness Princess, you wrote this military order yourself!" The paper is not in the right format and there are not many of them, probably you stole the big seal of the county prince! Your Royal Highness Princess, you have committed a capital crime by forging military orders, and the last general will now detain you until His Majesty the Emperor returns to the palace to deal with it! ”

Qi Huan said to the soldiers outside the door: "Come on, escort Her Royal Highness the eldest princess to take care of her!" ”

As soon as Qi Huan's voice fell, more than 20 personal soldiers brought by Zhu Luo immediately moved, and one of the burly men pulled out his waist knife and stepped forward to slash Qi Huan, and then cut off the head. At this time, Qi Huan's personal soldiers outside the door heard movement in the tent and rushed in more than a dozen times, but these ordinary soldiers were the opponents of Zhu Luo's personal soldiers, and they were hacked to death at the door of the big tent.