On November 18, the 41st year of Tianyou, Emperor Zhu Qinde died.

The obituary of the Emperor Taishang's death was notified to the officials of the yamen in Beijing within half an hour.

At the time of the application card, the heavy snow was blowing, and the snow in the Qianqing Palace Square was full of Beijing officials who wore filial piety above the seventh grade, and they were all crying!

The imperial doctor diagnosed an overdose of pills, which was considered to be the end of his life, and the mourning hall was located in Kunning Palace.

The huge coffin rests in the center of the main hall.

At this time, the Kunning Palace was dead silent.

Except for Yuan Chun and Wu Guifei who could not enter the mourning hall because they were pregnant, the harem concubines led by the Queen Mother knelt silently on the futon one by one in filial piety clothes.

King Yizhong knelt beside the coffin with his neck stiff, staring at Zhu Wucheng with his two eyes fixed.

Zhu Wucheng's eyes flashed, and he also looked directly at Zhu Dakang fixedly.

Zhu Dakang spoke: "The prince who is a prince and a loser is a thief!" If you want to kill, you have to listen to your respect, but Your Majesty can't put the blame for the death of the emperor's grandfather on my head, and you have to have a degree of disgusting! ”

Everyone was stunned, and their eyes widened and they looked at Emperor Zhu Wucheng of Yong'an.

"Presumptuous!"

Zhu Wucheng finally couldn't bear it anymore, "If it weren't for you, would the Emperor Taishang know the danger and overdose on the pill?" You know better than anyone else in your heart that you can't escape the blame for the death of the emperor! ”

When Zhu Wucheng said this, Zhu Dakang stood up suddenly, still staring at Zhu Wucheng with his neck stiff, and said loudly: "Your Majesty has to say this, I have nothing to say." But please don't forget, why did the Emperor Taishang become seriously ill, and who caused the Emperor Taishang to live in peace in his old age? Your Majesty is only deceiving himself if he wants to lay this sin on me. ”

Suddenly, a snowy wind blew, and the spirit flag at the entrance of the temple rang loudly.

Zhu Dakang shook violently, fell to his knees, and cried loudly: "Imperial grandfather! Imperial grandfather! You see, you see..... Before your bones are cold, there are people who can't wait to persecute the King of Shu...... Ho ho ho ..... Your fears have come true...... You go slowly, the unfilial grandson is with you....." said as he slammed his head against the gold-lacquered nanmu coffin placed in the middle of the main hall.

King Fu, the princess, and the concubines were so frightened that they knelt there one by one, their eyes frightened, and they didn't dare to move.

Only the Queen Mother was stunned and wept silently.

Zhu Wucheng's face turned pale with anger, and his voice trembled a little: "Someone! Come! ”

Dong Shan waved his hand when he heard the sound, and led the four eunuchs of the Criminal Division to run in.

All of them lost their color.

Zhu Wucheng's gaze swept towards them coldly: "Don't pull it away yet!" ”

"Yes." The four eunuchs of the Criminal Division glanced at each other, walked towards Zhu Dakang together, and bent down: "King Jun, it's rude." As he spoke, he set Zhu Dakang up.

Zhu Dakang's forehead was blue and swollen at this time, and a big bag appeared in the middle, he raised his head and looked at Zhu Wucheng coldly: "I want to die, you let me die." ”

Zhu Wucheng's chest seemed to have been hit by something, and the hand hidden in his sleeve was pinched so loudly.

"The Empress Dowager has arrived!" A cry from the chief eunuch on duty came from outside the main hall, and the cabinet ministers, the six ministries and the nine secretaries and all the nobles who were kneeling under the spiritual shed outside the hall door bowed their heads one after another.

There was a sound of footsteps, and the Empress Dowager Zhang walked in with the support of Xia Shouzhong, the chief eunuch of Cining Palace.

As soon as he entered the door, Emperor Zhu Wucheng of Yong'an saluted first, "Grandson greets the imperial grandmother." Then he went up and grabbed the empress dowager's other arm, "It's cold, why did the imperial grandmother come over?" ”

After speaking, he turned to Xia Shouzhong and asked, "I have always asked you to serve with your heart, why don't you follow the rules?" ”

The Empress Dowager hurriedly interjected: "Don't blame them, it's my own idea." When people get old, they think about it a lot, and when I close my eyes, my mind is full of your father, so I will come to see him and see him. As he spoke, he coughed.

Zhu Wucheng hurriedly stretched out his hand to rub the back of the Empress Dowager and said: "Sun Er has passed a decree that he will go to the Temple of Heaven and Earth on the winter solstice to fast for seven days, praying for the emperor's grandmother, his father, and the Ming Dynasty." ”

The Empress Dowager: "It's hard for your filial piety." With your words, I will not be sick at all. He coughed twice as he spoke.

Zhu Wucheng beat her back while carrying her to the coffin placed in the middle of the main hall.

Zhu Dakang broke free at this time and fell to his knees: "Grandmother ..... Emperor"

Zhang walked to the coffin and stretched out his hand to touch it, and said with tears streaming down his face: "Son, mother has come to see you off....."

When the Queen Mother heard this, she couldn't help crying, and the tears fell like rolling melons.

The prince of the clan kneeling in the east headed by King Fu, and Concubine Zhen kneeling in the west were all led to cry out loud together.

Listening to the sound of trumpets coming from the main hall, the four cabinet members kneeling on the left side of the mourning shed, and the officials of the six departments and the nine secretaries cried together!

The nobles who were kneeling on the right side also cried loudly at this time.

Jia Jue screamed twice, but he couldn't squeeze out tears, looked left and right, took out a handkerchief from his sleeve, and cried with his eyes like Xie Qiong.

Jia Yu cried so sadly, with a lot of tears and snot, he suddenly felt that someone had pulled him, turned his head to look, but saw Jia Zhen glaring at him, he was stunned for a moment, looked at his fingers, his eyes were straight, and he saw Jia Zhen holding a pink handkerchief in his hand.

Jia Yu was shocked, and he couldn't care about the etiquette, he crawled to Jia Jue's side on his knees, grabbed his hand, Jia Yu was startled, and raised his hand to fight, at this time Jia Yu shouted: "You are a rebel, and you still want to beat you Lao Tzu." Look at what you're holding in your hand? ”

Jia Jue came to his senses, hurriedly lowered his head, stunned for a moment, just wondered how his handkerchief could have a faint fragrance, it turned out that he took it wrong, hurriedly stuffed Daiyu's handkerchief into his sleeve, and carefully glanced around, glaring at Xie Qiong, who was grinning and snickering.

Many people saw it, but they all pretended not to see it, and everyone still knelt there and cried loudly.

For a while, the loud cry and the growing snow wind echoed in the sky above Kunning Palace.

At this moment, the great eunuch on duty at the noon gate came panting, listening to the cry coming from the hall, and did not dare to step forward.

Liu Wenbin got up and walked up

The chief eunuch saluted, and then handed over the military report: "Second assistant, just sent in, six hundred miles of urgent military report!" ”

Liu Wenbin was taken aback, took the military newspaper and saw that it was Zhao Sheng's military report.

At this time, Chen Ruiwen, the Duke of Qi, quietly appeared behind him: "What's the matter?" ”

Liu Wenbin hurriedly turned around: "Old man, the six-hundred-mile urgent military report sent by Zhao Sheng!" He replied and handed over the military newspaper.

Chen Ruiwen was also shocked when he received the military report, and looked up at the main hall of Kunning Palace, a little embarrassed.

Han Jun also came over and hurriedly asked, "Military newspaper?" Where did it come from? ”

Liu Wenbin: "It's Zhao Sheng's military newspaper." ”

Han Jun was taken aback: "It's not good, something must have happened to Juyongguan!" What to do? The Empress Dowager is in there at this time! ”

Liu Wenbin looked back at the hall, gritted his teeth, and approached Chen Ruiwen: "Old Guogong, we can't wait, let's go to the cabinet to be on duty." ”

Chen Ruiwen: "Okay." Answered, took the military report and walked to Wenyuan Pavilion.

"You stay here, and after the Empress Dowager leaves, you will immediately show the emperor." After instructing Han Jun, Liu Wenbin turned around and walked towards the queue of honors, informed Niu Jizong of the matter, thought about it, and called Jia Jue out.

..............

Inside the cabinet room, it was unusually quiet.

Emperor Zhu Wucheng of Yong'an sat silently in front of the book, and there were two copies of the book on the book, one was the military newspaper of Zhao Sheng's success, and the other was handed by Hou Shenyi of Tai'an. The two military reports said the same thing, Zhao Sheng successfully ambushed a rebel army from Juyong Pass, unlike Zhao Sheng, Shen Yi deliberately pointed out that Zhao Sheng's department did not capture anything in this battle, not a knife, not a spear, he suspected that Zhao Sheng killed not a rebel, but the Ming army released by Li Wenzhong.

If that's the case, it's a big deal.

Niu Jizong: "Zhao Sheng's excerpt said that he not only killed the deputy general of the Imperial Forest Army, but also killed three rebellious Juyongguan generals and four generals of the Royal Forest Army. A deputy general, three staff generals and four guerrilla generals appeared swaggering on the official road outside Changping with only thousands of soldiers, hehe.... What a great irony. ”

Everyone knew that there must be something strange about this matter, so they pondered it one by one, and no one spoke for a while.

Only Jia Jue, because he has most of the Zhou family's intelligence network, received an urgent letter from Changping as early as before entering the palace, and has guessed a few points with the help of Shen Yi's military report, Zhao Sheng because of his meritorious service, fell into Li Wenzhong's plan, thinking that those soldiers who escaped death have fled into Juyong Pass, and they don't need to guess to know what kind of evil consequences will be caused.

Thinking of this, Jia Jue spoke: "The most important thing now is to notify Xuanfu Town, they don't know that Li Wenzhong has rebelled, if the entire Xuanfu falls into the hands of Li Wenzhong, we will be in big trouble." It is also necessary to take the Bauhinia Pass and ensure the safety of Shenjing. ”

As soon as these words came out, Zhu Wucheng was stunned at first.

Then, the others looked at each other and remained silent.

Liu Wenbin raised his head: "Old man? ”

Hearing this, Chen Ruiwen thought for a moment and said to Zhu Wucheng: "Your Majesty, the words of the Marquis of Zhongwu are very reasonable. The grain and grass in Juyongguan are supplied on a monthly basis, plus the men and horses of the Royal Forest Army, and they will last for a day or two at most, so Li Wenzhong will definitely take advantage of the fact that Xuanfu has not received news to seize the city to get grain, and Yanqing Prefecture and Huailai will definitely be too late, but Xuanfu Town must be defended. There are two pressing tasks at the moment, one is to mobilize troops and defenses, and the other is to mobilize grain and grass. The minister's intention was to set up a large camp in the east and west directions, and trap Li Wenzhong's troops near Juyong Pass, the weather was too cold, which was not conducive to combat, and Juyong Pass was a dangerous pass, easy to defend and difficult to attack. ”

Han Jun immediately spoke: "This consumption is too great, it is only the end of November, the end of January and the beginning of February, but for more than two months, we can't afford it." ”

Niu Jizong's eyes widened when he heard this.

Jia Jue couldn't hold back his laughter, and hurriedly held back.

Zhu Wucheng's brows couldn't help but furrow.

Ding Yuanzhu: "Two and a half months? The rebels had long since starved to death. ”

Han Jun was stunned at first, then glanced at Zhu Wucheng, whose face was full of frost, and nodded blankly.

Liu Wenbin stood up and said: "It is impractical to attack the city, so according to the old man's wishes, he set up a large camp on the east and west sides of Juyong Pass, trapped Li Wenzhong's troops, and forced them to go out of the city and surrender." In addition, His Majesty can send a holy decree to Juyong Pass, stating that as long as they go out of the pass and surrender, the court will not be guilty of the past. As for Li Wenzhong, he was demoted to a commoner. ”

Zhu Wucheng's face stretched, he also stood up, and said loudly: "Okay! Everything will be done according to what Qi Guogong and the second assistant said! Elder Han Ge, you urged the household department to hurry up and transport Zhao Shengbu's food and warm clothes and other military supplies to the front-line camp. Elder Ding Ge, you draw up a will on my behalf, and according to what the second assistant just said, it will be sent to the Heart Cultivation Hall in half an hour. ”

Han Jun and Ding Yuanzhu stood up: "Obey." ”

Zhu Wucheng: "Old man, county king, the matter of Xuanfu, you two should ask about it, Baoan Prefecture and Jiming Mountain must not be lost." You don't have to worry about Bauhinia Pass, the Emperor Taishang has already passed the will the day before yesterday. ”

Speaking of this, he glanced at Jia Jue, and continued: "There is also the matter of Tongzhou, I will order Lin Lei to transport another 50,000 stone of grain." ”

Chen Ruiwen and Niu Jizong also stood up and responded, "Yes." ”

Zhu Wucheng: "Elder Wangge, Marquis Zhongwu, three days later, the two of you will accompany me to the Temple of Heaven and Earth to fast and pray for blessings for seven days. ”

Jia Jue and Wang Shaoguang stood up stupidly: "Yes." ”

Zhu Wucheng nodded.

Jia Jue glanced at him, turned to Liu Wenbin and said: "Second assistant, please remind Zhao Sheng that the defense of the camp must be done well, although it is cold and freezing, you can't build fences and walls, and you can't dig trenches, but you can use snow and ice to build several lines of defense." Li Wenzhong is familiar with the art of war and strategy, so he must not be careless, but don't let him burn down the camp. There is also a firearms battalion, don't be stationed near the big tent of the Chinese army, and don't put those ammunition together with the rear army's grain and grass, they are all new granular gunpowder developed by the Hyogo Division, if that thing blows up, hehe....."

Liu Wenbin didn't say anything, and looked up at the emperor.

Zhu Wucheng nodded again, and said with satisfaction: "You can focus on the overall situation and start small, which means that you are a qualified commander." When the imperial court uses troops against Lingbei, I will hand over half of the army to your commander. ”

Jia Jue's heart was shocked, this big cake was painted by his mother two years later, and he was even better at fooling people than his old man.

Thinking of this, he replied quietly: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace." ”

...............

As everyone speculated, those who escaped the Ming army fled back to Juyong Pass in embarrassment, and brought back the news that the imperial court would condemn them as rebels to encircle and suppress, after hearing the news, many soldiers of the Imperial Forest Army beat their chests and cried loudly, they didn't understand why the emperor was so ruthless, they went thousands of miles to fight in the Mobei grassland, and finally received the holy decree of the emperor, thinking that they could go home and reunite with their families before the Spring Festival, but they didn't expect to become a rebel inexplicably.

At the same time, Li Wenzhong, under the escort of his own soldiers, rushed to Yanqing Prefecture in the wind and snow to stop the rear army that was about to go to Juyong Pass, and successfully controlled Yanqing Prefecture.

Worried that there would be another accident in Juyong Pass, Li Wenzhong rushed back non-stop, and as soon as he stepped into Juyong Pass, he felt a deep sorrow permeating the entire barracks, and when he learned all about it, he couldn't help but kowtow to the emperor in his heart, what a benefactor.

Just when he was thinking about how to break the situation, Luo Yinghe sent someone to bring him the news of the violent death of the Emperor Taishang, Li Wenzhong immediately understood that his opportunity had come, he wore filial piety clothes and told all the soldiers the news of the violent death of the Emperor Taishang, and insinuated that the emperor poisoned the Emperor Taishang, declared them rebels and sent troops to encircle and suppress them is the best evidence.

Immediately ordered the three armies to be susu and swore to avenge the emperor.

In order to cope with this complicated situation, Li Wenzhong also made active arrangements, on the one hand, he sent troops to take over the surrounding cities before the imperial court reacted, and concentrated the vast majority of grain in Juyongguan. On the other hand, he decided to follow the example of Emperor Yongle to overthrow the present day, but he had no ambition to be an emperor, and certainly did not have the strength. Therefore, he played the banner of 'Qing Jun's side, supporting the grandson', and personally wrote an essay, calling Zhu Wucheng a thief who stole the throne, and called on loyal ministers loyal to the Zhu Ming royal family to unite to drive down the thieves who stole the country and support the son of King Fu to ascend the throne.

After nightfall, a group of messengers disappeared into the wind and snow with the inscriptions, which they would deliver to the emperor's henchmen and the vassal kings.