(12 points)

From Tianjin to Beijing by land, the most likely is from Chaoyang Gate, Guangqu Gate, Dongzhi Gate three city gates into the city, which in the outer city is Guangqu Gate, Dongzhi Gate two city gates, Long Keduo early in the morning to the outer city to inspect the defense of these two city gates, for the defense of the capital, he is not worried, the inner and outer cities of the Beijing division are high walls, strong defense, and many artillery, on the eighth brother and the prince's men, if you want to attack hard, there is no chance at all.

What he is most worried about is internal and external collusion, the eighth elder brother is very popular in the capital, and the ninth elder brother is planning in the middle, once the internal and external attack is formed, no matter how strict the defense is, it can only be a decoration, and once the eighth elder brother leads the troops into the city, he, the commander of the nine gates, will exist in name only.

For the prince's people, Long Keduo has even more headaches, the prince has hundreds of third-rank officials and second-rank and above clan relatives and nobles in his hands, if the lives of those officials and clan nobles are threatened, the families of these clan nobles in the inner city will inevitably unite to ask for the door to be released, and it is also a situation of internal and external attacks.

Inspected the Guangqu Gate and the Dongzhi Gate, Long Keduo had no intention of going to other city gates, and rushed to Chaoyangmen, he ordered the closure of all the city gates of the Jingshi without authorization today, and he expected that the ninth elder brother Yinyu would not give up, so he had already reprimanded his henchmen to invite Li Guangdi to meet at Chaoyang Gate.

Chaoyang Gate is one of the nine gates of the inner city, also known as Qihua Gate, is the grain channel, the grain into Beijing, must go through the North-South Grand Canal to Tongzhou, and then load the car into the city by the Chaoyang Gate, Tianjin into Beijing, the water and land post roads all pass through this city gate, it is the traffic artery of Jiangnan into Beijing, the eighth elder brother, the prince led the troops into Beijing, and the inner city must enter the city through this gate.

Long Keduo rushed to Chaoyangmen, and it was rumored that he was waiting for all the elder brothers and ministers in Chaoyangmen. Taking advantage of this gap, he checked the defense of Chaoyangmen again.

The defense of Chaoyangmen is composed of the city tower, the arrow tower, the gate tower, the urn city, the most important thing is the city tower, the city floor is five rooms wide, ten zhang wide, three rooms deep, six zhang deep, ten zhang high through the building, seven rooms wide in the arrow tower, ten zhang wide through the width, three rooms in the depth, eight zhang in the depth.

Long Keduo inspected the arrow tower, the gate tower, and the urn city, and just climbed the city tower, the fifth elder brother Yinqi and the ninth elder brother Yinyu took a large group of officials such as Xiao Yongzao and Zhang Pengxi, the minister of the upper study, into the urn city, followed by more than 600 messy servants, Long Keduo frowned and looked condescendingly at the long sedan chair and servants, and ordered lightly: "Close the city tower, the arrow tower, the four gates of the gate tower, if the servants have presumptuous, shoot arrows to kill" After speaking, he paced to the outside of the city tower and looked at the direction of Tongzhou.

At a glance, he saw a horse galloping forward, Long Keduo couldn't help but be surprised, although he only took a cursory look, but from the color of the clothes, it can be seen that the horse is a sentry of the Yamen of the infantry army, could it be that the soldiers and horses of the eighth elder brother have arrived in Tongzhou? He couldn't help but look up at the sun, but it was only noon, and they came so quickly

Sure enough, when he rode to the city, he reported loudly, "The five thousand soldiers and horses of the eighth elder brother have arrived in Tongzhou and are coming at full speed." ”

Tongzhou is only forty miles away from Chaoyang Gate, the cavalry is marching at full speed, and it will not take an hour to arrive, Long Keduo's heart sank, this idea is not enough time for him to fight with that group of officials.

As soon as the four gates of the urn city were closed, it was like a cage, and the fifth elder brother Yinqi, the ninth elder brother Yinyu and their officials and servants were shocked when they landed, looking at each other, Long Keduo wanted to rebel? Or did he have a long collusion with the crown prince? The so-called Chaoyangmen negotiation is simply a trap?

Nine Elder Brother Yinyu was already fat, and immediately saw sweat on his forehead, and after a little hesitation, he got off the sedan chair and shouted in his voice: "Long Keduo, you come out for the master"

A sergeant stood on the city wall and shouted: "There is an order from the Long Army Gate, all the servants will retreat to the arrow tower, otherwise they will not open the door"..., as soon as they heard this, everyone was secretly relieved, it was good not to rebel, Yinyu had confidence again, and scolded: "When the master goes out, how can there be no guards and servants?" Long Kedo, you bastard, don't open the door today if you have the ability"

The city wall was immediately quiet, not even a single figure was seen, everyone knew what was the reason why the ninth elder brother gathered so many servants to come, hearing this, they were all silent, it was noon, the sun at the end of April had been very scorching, less than a quarter of an hour, everyone was hot and panicked, and couldn't help but look at the fifth elder brother Yinqi.

The fifth elder brother Yinqi is very kind-hearted, he has always been cautious, and he never participates in the contention for the prince, he was opposed to the ninth brother taking these servants, so he immediately said: "The starling brother should arrive today, since we want to stalemate, it is better to go to the Guandi Temple over there to avoid the sun." ”

After this reminder, Yinyu couldn't help but secretly scold himself for being confused, what are you doing at this juncture? Thinking of this, he waved his hand and ordered the servants to retreat, and then said to Yinqi: "Fifth brother, the ninth brother's face has been lost today, and the fifth brother has to earn some money for the ninth brother." ”

Yinqi was also annoyed that Long Keduo acted unscrupulously, and he didn't take the two of them in his eyes at all, and he immediately said: "Ninth brother, don't worry, Long Keduo, this slave is not like words, it is time to beat it up." ”

Yinqi, Yinyu and others went up to the city tower, and Long Keduo stepped forward to salute, and Yinyu said angrily: "You still remember your own slave identity, and you dare to openly coerce your master?" ”

Long Keduo said with a wooden face: "The city tower is small, and it can't accommodate the hundreds of servants of the Ninth Master, so I have no choice but to make this decision, and I hope the Ninth Master will forgive me." ”

Yinqi continued: "Long Keduo, whose order did you take to order the closure of all the gates of the Jingshi without authorization?" ”

"Go back to the fifth master." Long Keduo bowed and said: "The last general, as the commander of the nine gates, is responsible for the internal and external defense of the Beijing Division, which is the duty of the last general. ”

Long Keduo, as the commander of the Nine Gates, has the right to execute on the spot, and then report it to the fold afterwards, this matter, what Long Keduo did can be described as leaky, no thorns to pick, Yinqi is not good at words, and he was immediately blocked speechless.

As soon as he heard that the starling had arrived in Tongzhou, Yinyu couldn't help but be secretly anxious, Tongzhou is only forty miles away, doesn't it mean that the starling will arrive in a blink of an eye? At this time, he had no intention of raising the bar, so he muttered: "The soldiers and horses led by Prince Yu Baotai are the headquarters of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion, I don't know why Lord Long is guarding against thieves?" Isn't the Xiao Cavalry Battalion the economic division of the imperial court? ”

"The emperor's whereabouts are unknown, and all the soldiers and horses who return to Beijing can't be trusted." Long Keduo said without concessions: "Whether it is the eighth elder brother or the crown prince, it is okay to go back to Beijing alone, and bring soldiers and horses into Beijing, and the last general will not dare to take this risk." ”

Seeing that Long Keduo said so directly, there was no room for maneuver, Yinyu no longer rambled with him, turned his head and glanced at everyone, and then said: "Now, I and the fifth brother, the two ministers of the upper study, and the left-behind ministers of various ministries are here, let's discuss and make a resolution." ”

Zhang Pengxi took the lead and said: "Lord Long's move is very good, treat everyone equally, the eighth elder brother and the prince have nothing to say, if the eighth elder brother is allowed to bring troops into the city, why is the prince not allowed to bring troops into the city?" What will be the consequences of the prince leading his troops into the city, I think you should all know that I am in favor of closing all the city gates. ”

Xiao Yongzao said without showing weakness: "It is precisely because we want to prevent the prince from entering Beijing that I propose to let the eighth elder brother lead troops into Beijing to assist in the defense of the Beijing division." ”

"Otherwise, the crown prince is the prince of a country after all, how can he openly prevent him from entering Beijing?" Zhang Pengxi immediately retorted: "In this way, where is the righteousness and reputation of the public? ..., Yin Yu said angrily: "The emperor's whereabouts are unknown, the prince did not try his best to search, but took the opportunity to launch a mutiny to hold the ministers and clan relatives hostage, what he did was tantamount to usurping the throne?" Such a national thief, everyone gets and condemns him, so why should he care about his status as the crown prince? ”

Yinyu's words were loud and reasonable, and immediately won the approval of most people, there were many officials of the Eight Parties, and there was a voice of echo when he landed, and the call for the Eighth Brother to lead the troops into the city immediately became the mainstream.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Long Keduo couldn't help but be secretly anxious, Li Guangdi said that he should have arrived early, why was he delayed? Wouldn't he be willing to wade into this troubled water? If this is the case, it will be very bad, if you carry it hard, things will only get worse and worse, and what is even more worrying is how to deal with the prince?

Just when Long Keduo was thinking nonsense, Zhang Pengxi said in surprise: "Li Zhongtang is here." ”

Long Keduo couldn't help but look back, and sure enough, he saw Li Guangdi walking slowly along the wall of the urn city with the attendants of several soldiers, he couldn't help but laugh secretly, but he forgot that the four gates of the urn city had been closed.

Li Guangdi came over, inevitably another salute, Long Keduo did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly ordered people to move a few low stools over, after taking a seat, Zhang Pengxi whispered the argument of Fang Cai, after listening, Li Guangdi groaned slightly, and then said: "The prince is holding hostage to the court of the third rank and above the clan relatives and nobles of the second rank or above, they are not only the foundation of the Qing Dynasty but also the backbone of the court, if there are no people, the country will not be a country." One must build on a firm foundation? Are you putting the cart before the horse? ”

Listening to these words, everyone suddenly felt a little surprised, these words are really to the point, without these ministers and clan relatives, it is difficult for anyone to be the emperor to sit firmly, and a few princes will fight for the throne, it is very likely to cause chaos in the world, whether the Qing Dynasty can keep the country is still a problem, what is the throne?

Nine Elder Brother Yinyu was also silent, the titles of the clan are generally very high, a total of twelve levels of titles, and the titles above the second grade account for ten levels, which can be said to be eight or nine times out of ten, without these clan relatives, the throne will become a castle in the air.

"The top priority is how to rescue the clan nobles and ministers who were held hostage by the crown prince." Lee Guangdi continued: "Have you ever thought about how to save it? ”

All the officials immediately bowed their heads and were silent, they thought most about who might fight for the throne, the safety of the capital, and whether they would be held hostage, but they didn't think about how to rescue the kidnapped ministers' clan .......