A thousand soldiers and horses of the guard battalion have been standing outside the Yongding Gate for nearly half an hour, and after reporting their identities, the defenders at the head of the city gave a polite reply, asking Zhenguo Gong to wait for a while, because the above issued an order to close the city gate a few days ago to prohibit entry and exit, even if Zhenguo Gong returned to Beijing, he needed to report to Shangguan and get permission before he could be released.

Song Nan sat quietly on his horse, staring at the closed tall city gate, of course he knew that this was all an excuse, the armor of the defenders at the head of the city was not the armor of the regimental camp at all, it was the armor of the foreign army; Wang Yong, who was beside him, quietly told Song Nan that the soldiers and horses on the city gate were the Gyeonggi garrisons of the Governor's Mansion of the Chinese Army, and Song Nan understood the severity of the problem.

Originally, it was the duty of the Beijing camp to guard the city gate, but now that foreign troops have entered Beijing to guard the city gate, can it be said that Zhang Lun has been completely deprived of his powers? Or is Zhang Lun resigned himself to turning a blind eye to Mingzhe to protect himself? Song Nan thought about the sinister situation after returning to Beijing, but he didn't expect that it had come to this point, if the entire capital was controlled by the foreign troops of the Chinese military governor's mansion, then what else could he do after entering the capital?

……

In the cabinet office, Zhang Wei and Tan You, two marquis who were promoted to marquis last year, were talking anxiously, in front of them, Yang Tinghe was sitting on a chair, and on both sides of him were Liang Chu and Fei Hong, and the three of them listened to the report of the two leading marquis with calm faces.

"The two marquis, please sit down, come here, and serve tea. The two marquis rarely come to the cabinet office as guests, but they are rare guests. After listening to their words, Yang Tinghe smiled.

"Yang Gong, why are you still so leisurely? Song Nan is just outside the south gate, what do you say? He is the hero of the counterinsurgency, we can't always keep him from entering the city, it doesn't make sense to be reasonable. Tan You rubbed his hands and said.

Yang Tinghe turned his head sideways and said, "Is it necessary to be so nervous?" How many soldiers and horses did Song Nan bring? ”

"There are only a thousand brocade guards."

"Then how many soldiers and horses have you transferred to Beijing from the Governor's Mansion of the Chinese Army?"

"Shen Cewei, Ying Tianwei, Yingzhou Liangwei, and Yanqing Wei have a total of five guards and horses, don't you Yang Gong know this?"

Yang Tinghe sighed: "Five guards and 30,000 soldiers and horses, are you still worried that Song Nan will ride into the city with a thousand brocade guards?" ”

Hui'an waited for Zhang Wei to blink and said: "Yang Gong, don't be mistaken, Song Nan is the commander of Jinyiwei, and the Jinyiwei army in Beijing has nearly 20,000 men, plus Zhang Lun, the governor of Beijing, is his eldest brother, as soon as he enters the city, I am afraid it will be difficult to deal with." ”

Yang Tinghe stroked his beard and said: "You guys are giving him face too much, can't Song Nan have three heads and six arms?" Even if he has some ability, it is within the scope of the imperial court, and he can only do what the emperor allows him to do, does he dare to resist the decree? Didn't Zhang Lun breathe out of the same nostril as Song Nan? The emperor's holy decree was issued, allowing foreign troops to enter the city to guard the nine gates and take over the defense of the city, and asked all his Beijing camps to return to the camp and not act rashly, didn't he obediently do it? ”

Hui'an Hou Zhang Wei frowned and said, "What do you mean ......?"

Liang Chu on the side got up and said: "What Yang Gong means is that it is time to promulgate the emperor's edict, and the lords of the Shicai Cabinet have already obtained the decree of the queen mother, in view of the current situation of the emperor's body, the emperor's edict should be announced to the world in advance, so that people can feel at ease." ”

Tan You exclaimed: "But...... The emperor hasn't ...... yet."

Fei Hong reprimanded: "Marquis Tan, the Queen Mother has agreed to announce the edict in advance, what else do you have to ask?" We are not disloyal to the emperor, we are just thinking about the society and the country; The stability of the society is the first priority, and if people take advantage of this gap to make trouble and destroy the smooth handover of the society, it is disloyal. ”

Tan You hurriedly said: "Ben Hou didn't say that this was an act of disloyalty, but what a few scholars meant was that this would read out the edict so that Song Nan couldn't move?" ”

"Exactly." Liang Chu sneered.

"What if he ignores it?" Zhang Wei said suddenly.

Yang Tinghe's eyes were shining, and he said softly: "If someone does not respect the emperor's edict, it is a great rebellion, and I ask the two marquis to take it immediately, in extraordinary times, the two marquis must be decisive and resolute, which is also the meaning of the queen mother." If the two marquis don't believe it, they can enter the palace to see the queen mother and listen to the queen mother's teachings. ”

At this time, Hui'an waited for Zhang Weixin and waited for Tan You, where did he still not understand that Song Nan's sudden early arrival disrupted everyone's plans. I thought that Song Nan would lead the army back to Beijing in at least seven or eight days, but the emperor was critically ill and did not eat or drink for several days, and he had reached the point of dying, and he couldn't survive these two days; Before Song Nan returned to Beijing, he had plenty of time to announce the edict and welcome the new emperor to Beijing. And now, the emperor has to announce the edict in advance before the funeral. This is a last resort, in fact, the emperor is still alive and the new emperor is on the throne, which is a strict and misdeeds, but at this time, I can't take care of it, let alone invite the queen mother's decree.

"Then, my lords, I will go to Yongding Gate to open the city gate, Song Nan is also considered to have a big face, I should have summoned the Beijing Chinese Martial Arts to unify the decree, but it is not good to let our great heroes wait outside the city for a long time, let's go to greet and promulgate this edict on the other; Song Nan alone took the lead in announcing the decree, which is also the glory of his Song Nan, hehe. Yang Tinghe got up and stroked his sleeves and smiled.

Liang Chu said with a smile: "Yang Gong has given him enough face, I hope Song Nan can be grateful." Yang Gong arranged it very well. ”

Fei Hong said: "Liang Gong, I have heard a lot of words recently, and I feel very comfortable listening to people's hearts." ”

Liang Chu's face turned red and he coughed to hide his embarrassment.

Liang Chu knows his own family affairs, why he can still sit in the cabinet position unharmed, it was Yang Tinghe who let him go.

Originally, the cabinet was going to focus on investigating and detaining Jiangxi officials on the matter of playing Ning Wang's folding, and Liang Chu himself thought that this time it would be completely planted, but he didn't expect Yang Tinghe to talk to him in person and sue Liang Chu, all kinds of evidence show that it was the negligence of one of Liang Chu's penmen who led to this mistake, and the penman also confessed.

Liang Chu was surprised, but he soon understood that this was Yang Tinghe protecting himself, and he couldn't help but be grateful when he was surprised, Yang Tinghe's move not only saved his life, but also saved his qiē, a handful at this critical time, comparable to sending charcoal in the snow. Liang Chu naturally understands that Yang Tinghe is not unrewarded for doing this, and the reward he Liang gives is to follow Yang Tinghe with all his heart from now on, and never have a strange heart, while Yang Tinghe protects him, he actually treats this matter as a pigtail in his hands.

For Yang Tinghe, he needs Liang Chu as a person, first, great things are coming, he needs to unite a force that can be united, and second, Liang Chu is the queen mother, leaving Liang Chu to establish a solid alliance between Liang Chu and the queen mother. The Empress Dowager Zhang recommended the prince of King Ning as the heir of the emperor, and then after King Ning blatantly launched a rebellion, she was ashamed and blamed herself, and she was worried that she would be questioned by the emperor and criticized by the ministers because of this matter, and she also needed to settle the matter quickly, which required someone to calm down the criticism in the outer court for her.

Yang Ting and Tong Guò Liang Chu formed an alliance with Empress Dowager Zhang as they wished, and Empress Dowager Zhang readily agreed to Yang Tinghe's recommendation of Zhu Houxi as the new emperor's candidate, which was also a move to repay the favor. In fact, Empress Dowager Zhang did not have any strong insistence on the selection of the imperial heir, she only insisted on it once before, but the candidate she liked and respected turned out to be a person with bad intentions.

Empress Dowager Zhang understands that with her own IQ, it is better not to blindly command in such a major matter, it is better to let the ministers make decisions about these things, and you must not make your own decisions, one is not good, and the comfortable life in old age is afraid that it will be in vain.

Although such an alliance was hasty, it was absolutely solid, and the interests of all parties were well maintained, and the only thing to worry about was the opposition of Song Nan's faction. Empress Dowager Zhang also understood that if Song Nan objected, the emperor would not agree, and Yang Tinghe also had the same idea. However, an excellent opportunity soon came, Song Nan left Beijing to quell the rebellion, Zhengde was seriously ill, and at this time, it was not intended to be the best opportunity to finalize the matter. So after several careful planning, the qiē discovered by Zhang Yong happened unknowingly.

Now that Song Nan is back, the matter is imminent, and Empress Dowager Zhang has to agree to Yang Tinghe's request to make this edict public in advance, only in this way can this matter be completely nailed to the final coffin, so that Song Nan has no way to resist.