Episode 117 Capture the Palace Gate

The old king has decreed that the whole city will be under martial law and the whole army will be mobilized. But by this time, his orders could hardly leave the city of Bangkok.

Although Siam is still a centralized monarchy, it is an open centralized monarchy after all, not a closed and high-pressure state like the Northern Qing Dynasty. It is geographically sandwiched between the Ming Dynasty and the British and French territories, and has been influenced by them for a long time, and the news is still relatively open. Some of the major newspapers in the Ming Dynasty and the Jinling Broadcasting Company have branches here, publishing Thai newspapers and broadcasting Thai broadcasts. Siam's dignitaries and military officials could not only read newspapers, but also could afford radios.

Ever since they saw that the Ming newspapers had reported that Prince Ananta had fled and that he was now on the hunt, they had almost guessed what was going to happen. That is, the position of the crown prince is about to change.

These days, Siamese military and political officials asked their servants to buy newspapers from the market every day, and most of the people who had tape recorders at home nailed them to listen to Siamese programs from the Ming Dynasty and the outside world. They have been sharpening their ears for the past few days, desperately collecting and listening to the bombing of King Yanping, the escape of Prince Ananta, and all the news about the relations between the Ming and Siam. Many nimble minds have seen it: this is most likely an abnormal change of throne. How to stand in line at a critical time? Left to right? Or stay still and remain neutral? This is all about his political future, and even his life.

Now the king is speaking to all the generals through the palace radio, ordering them to gather their men at once, bring their weapons out of the treasury, arm their troops, and prepare to defend the country and the autonomy of the Kingdom of Siam. He also made many encouraging words on the radio, reminding the army of the oath of loyalty to the king and inspiring a sense of honor as soldiers......

But the generals everywhere guarded the radio, and they all had their own calculations. In particular, the king's sentence "defending the ** autonomy of the Kingdom of Siam" is so scary that anyone can hear who this is aimed at. This is simply against Daming! It's almost not clear!

It's good that the king doesn't say this, but as soon as he says this, the few generals who were already mobilizing the troops are now quickly disbanding their subordinates, and they should do whatever they want. The telegrams of the garrisons everywhere were either "broken" or "out of power", or the signal was not good. Anyway, I made up my mind, but I couldn't receive the official military order from Bangkok.

The local garrison in Bangkok also refused to go to the streets to impose martial law. When Prince Bhumibol's guards stormed the streets, the streets were full of people. It took more than an hour for the guards in groups of more than a dozen people to occupy the telegraph and telephone offices, radio stations, police stations, and other key departments, as if they were shopping on the streets, carrying weapons and squeezing through the traffic, and there was no fighting at all.

By this time, the decree of the old king could not only not leave Bangkok, but now even the royal palace could not be released.

……

The Prince's Guard and the small number of Bangkok troops involved in the coup d'état now had about 100 mobile troops left after they divided and occupied various key parts of the city. Now the hundred men had moved to the front of the palace and were ready to go inside.

But at the gate of the palace, there was not a single guard, and the two palace doors were closed tightly. With a wave of his hand, the captain of the prince's guard rushed forward and pushed the gate hard. Surprisingly, the heavy palace door was not locked, nor did it hold up from the inside. With the heavy wooden sound of "urn-", the two doors slowly parted.

The captain of the guard waved his hand again:

"Rush in!"

More than a hundred people shouted and rushed in.

But......

"Dada............"

Tongues of fire shone inside the door, and the muffled sound of a Maxim heavy machine gun rang out. Several of the soldiers who rushed to the front fell to the ground screaming.

The soldiers behind burst out into a loud cry and scrambled backwards, the sound of ghosts crying wolves worse than those of those who had been shot. The heavy machine guns inside chased them and strafed them, and several people were shot in the back and fell to the gate screaming.

Then, even the **ten people who had not rushed in behind them, as soon as they heard the sound of machine guns, they all shouted and scattered far away to both sides.

There was no one at the gate of the palace anymore, and the machine gun inside was still firing frantically, as if it was also emboldening itself. The dull sound of the water-cooled machine gun kept coming, and the bullets "whizzed" through the air and whistled out.

It took a long time for a ceasefire.

The quality of the princely guards was obviously not as high as that of the palace guards.

……

Now, the soldiers of the prince's guard lay on the ground on both sides of the palace gate and shouted:

"Captain, what should I do!"

"Captain, you can't rush in!"

"We can't get in, please ask the Ming army to fight!"

"Yes, yes, let the Ming army come!"

The captain was so angry that he slowly got up from his knees on the ground, and shouted and scolded:

"You're all death-scared! Get up for me and rush in! ”

After a few shouts, no one would get up from the ground. The captain scolded again and ordered:

"Throw a grenade inside!"

Saying this, the soldiers below had a little blood on their faces. The two soldiers closest to the palace gate got up, each untied a grenade from their belts, and slowly moved to the palace gate. Then the two gestured to each other, pulled the strings at the same time, and threw them in.

There were two loud bangs, and there was a sound of tiles and branches falling to the ground. Then one of the soldiers had the audacity to poke his head in.

But nothing was seen.

Although the palace wall of the Siam Royal Palace is not as thick as the Ming Forbidden City, and the door hole is as deep as the doorway, the door hole of the palace here is also two or three meters deep. When I poked my head in quickly, all I saw was a dark doorway.

"Alright," the captain ordered, "the machine gun is blown up, rush in!" ”

No one moved on the ground. The captain was furious, drew his pistol, pulled them up one by one, and shouted:

"Have you all gained impatience? You don't want to think about what we're doing. We have no way back! If we fail, the whole family will die! Your whole family, wives and children, none of them can be saved! All *** get up and fight! ”

Dozens of soldiers were scolded and dragged by him, and they all got up from the ground anyway. The captain's words reached their hearts, and now they all remembered that they had no way back.

Soon, they formed a second stormtrooper, and under the orders of the captain, began to charge into the doorway.

However, the machine gun inside rang out again. This time, a dozen or so people died in the doorway.

The remaining dozens of people ran out like crazy, this time not wanting to go in even if they died.

The captain himself was terrified, he didn't expect that the two grenades hadn't blown up the machine gun yet. The machine gun is inside, and it's not far from the door! How could it not be blown up?

A seriously wounded soldier in the doorway wailed, gritting his teeth and shouting:

"Inside...... There's a bunker built out of stone slabs inside! Machine guns in bunkers......"

The captain's eyes were dark, and he cried bitterly. In that case, it wouldn't be a problem to throw all the grenades away......

He looked left and right, looking at the palace walls. This palace wall is as high as two people, and it is definitely impossible to climb it with bare hands. Stacking arhats doesn't do either. There must be a ladder. And for a while, where to find a ladder!

At this time, a large loudspeaker in the palace began to shout. It was the officers of the palace guard shouting that the rebels should lay down their arms and surrender, so that they and their families could be pardoned from death. His Majesty the King will also have a heavy reward for those who take the lead in surrendering.

The captain felt a cold air rise from behind him. He looked at the "bear soldier" lying on the ground at his feet and felt bad. Now the entire Siamese army is watching this palace gate. The generals of the army are waiting and watching, and if they fail here, then they will immediately return to their side, and then the general trend is gone. Even if Daming supports it, it's hard to say. Because once Bangkok is regained by the king, nothing will change unless the Ming Dynasty invades openly.

His heart was crossed, and he shouted:

"Don't panic, all of you! I don't want you to rush in, let's just guard the palace gate! I will report back to His Royal Highness the Prince and ask him to ask Daming to send troops for help! You can rest assured, Daming is on our side! As soon as the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty came, they were taken in ten minutes! The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty topped ten of them one by one! ”

With such a shout, the soldiers on the ground raised their heads one after another, and they all showed hope.