When Zhu Di arrived, the banquet was in full swing, and the leader of the Imperial Guard who was responsible for surveillance outside the mansion was also there. Everyone was eating and drinking, and it was very lively.
Seeing him, a group of people quickly put down their wine glasses and stood up to salute.
Although King Yan was crazy, no one dared to lose etiquette in public. Furthermore, when eating at other people's banquets, one must be polite.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Di, who had always been crazy, turned out to be uncharacteristically serious and returned the favor with a smile and cupped fists.
Then, he walked up the steps under the dull eyes of everyone.
Zhu Di glanced at Xu Miaoyun, who nodded, "Your Highness, everything is ready."
Then he said again: "Sambo, you go to the attic to send a message."
"Yes, Princess."
Seeing that everything was ready, Zhu Di was completely relieved and shouted: "Everyone, let me announce something. I am not crazy!"
He looked full of grief and anger, "There was a traitor in the court, and the emperor was bewitched by him, and he killed his blood relatives wantonly;
The ancestral teachings of the Emperor Ming Dynasty say: If there are no honest ministers in the dynasty, and there are traitors and traitors in the court, the vassal king will raise his troops to attack him in order to clear the emperor's side!"
Zhu Di made an impassioned speech and was full of murderous intent: "You are willing to join me, Qing Jun, to save the country from disaster?!"
Everyone was stunned and dumbfounded. It took a while for them to react.
The chief envoy of Peiping was from the civil service group. He immediately stood up and shouted: "The King of Yan, Zhu Di, wants to rebel. Don't do it..."
"Insolent." Zhu Di shouted in a deep voice, "I think you are one of the traitorous officials. Come and take him away from me."
After a while, the royal guards rushed in from the side courtyard and surrounded everyone.
The chief envoy was furious: "Zhu Di, do you really want to rebel?"
Zhu Di sneered, "Behead him!"
Jin Wuwei didn't care about that. He immediately followed the instructions and dragged the chief minister out of the wine table. He picked up the knife and chopped off his head.
The beautiful banquet turned out like this, which was beyond everyone's expectations. Only then did everyone understand that the so-called wedding banquet was a conspiracy from beginning to end.
Zhu Di smiled coldly, "Everyone, think about it carefully. I am following this king to grant peace to the emperor and grant him the title of wife and son.
Or is he like that traitorous minister?"
A commander of the Forbidden Army said angrily, "Zhu Di has rebelled, come quickly...!"
"puff……"
The sharp sword slashed down, and the leader of the forbidden army immediately hated the northwest. When the others saw this, they were angry but dared not speak.
Zhu Di said coldly, "Who else?"
Everyone looked at each other and no one spoke. They did not dare to openly follow Zhu Di in rebellion, but they also did not dare to object. After all, who doesn't want to live?
Things went more smoothly than expected. Only two people were killed and the situation was stabilized. Although the imperial guards outside heard some movement, their superiors did not summon them and no one dared to rush into the palace without permission.
Two quarters of an hour later, Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng arrived with thousands of people and took full control of the Forbidden Army. Zhu Di completely took the initiative.
Zhu Di was not polite and pointed out two ways for these people, either to follow him or to die directly.
Given the choice between life and death, the vast majority of people choose the former.
…
When Li Qing arrived with his three brothers, Zhu Di had already assembled the three guards and started to pull the team together.
The newly appointed chief envoy to Peiping took up his post again, and all prisoners in the Yamen who were willing to follow Jingnan were released and incorporated into Jingnan's army.
At the same time, Xu Miaoyun and Dao Yan were busy building walls and clearing the countryside, and began to gather the people into Beiping City.
Collect food, set houses on fire, fill up wells... destroy all facilities that can be used by the enemy.
When Zhu Di saw that his three sons had returned safely, he was full of energy and no longer had any worries.
Time was running out, so he didn't show too much politeness to Li Qing and said directly: "Sir, what's going on over there in Jinling?"
"The Marquises of Changxing and Wuding are all ready." Li Qing said, "Everything is ready and all we need is the east wind."
After a pause, he said, "It's such a big thing that I can't hide it even if I want to. It will definitely reach the capital in less than half a month. How about I take the news back and prepare for the subsequent layout."
Xu Miaoyun continued: "What you said is absolutely true. We cannot let Jianwen doubt you. It will take at least a month and a half from the time the court receives the news, to dispatching the army, and to the time the army arrives;
After such a long time, I have been able to do a lot of things.”
Li Qing frowned and said, "Can it be completed in more than a month and clear the entire Peiping?"
"No." Xu Miaoyun shook his head.
"It doesn't matter. Since Uncle Bingwen is willing to help, the battlefield will be placed directly outside Peking." Zhu Di said thoughtfully, "Mr. Li, you go back and inform Uncle Bingwen that we will meet at Zhending."
After a pause, Zhu Di said worriedly, "Jianwen won't send Lan Yu to send troops, right?"
"Absolutely not." Li Qing said with a smile, "He doesn't dare to let Lan Yu lead the troops."
"That's good." Zhu Di felt relieved.
Li Qing thought for a while and asked, "How many troops can you muster by then?"
"Fifty or sixty thousand!"
"Can't there be more?"
Zhu Di smiled bitterly, "Time does not allow it, this is already the limit."
Li Qing said nothing more, looked up at the banner of 'Fengtian Jingnan', mounted his horse and returned to Jinling.
…
In early July, Li Qing returned to the capital injured and told Xiao Zhu about Zhu Di's rebellion.
"Is King Yan really rebelling?" Zhu Yunwen was shocked and immediately shouted, "Come here, summon all the civil and military officials and hold a court meeting."
Qi Tai stared at Li Qing and said word by word, "Since King Yan has rebelled, why can Marquis Yongqing come back?"
"I stole a horse and came back at night. Didn't you see that I was covered in wounds?" Li Qing said angrily, "You have to let me die in Peiping to make you happy, right?"
"I..." Qitai choked and hummed, "Marquis Yongqing is really capable."
"Stop arguing. We are facing a powerful enemy. We want the monarch and his ministers to be united." Zhu Yunwen said with a serious face, "The top priority is to quell the rebellion."
"The emperor is right!" Huang Zicheng was grateful to Li Qing and spoke for him, "Qi Shangshu didn't even think about it. If Marquis Yongqing had other intentions, would he come back to report to the emperor?"
Qi Tai was startled and said nothing.
Zhu Yunwen was a little panicked, "Several gentlemen are coming with me. We will go to the court to discuss a plan."
Most of an hour later, the civil servants and generals arrived one after another. They were all shocked to learn that King Yan had really rebelled.
The civil servants were all impassioned and clamoring to suppress the rebellion, but the military generals said nothing and quietly watched the performance of the civil servants.
People will die in war, and these civil servants will not go to the battlefield to sacrifice their lives. Of course they are not afraid, but the cruelty of the generals on the battlefield is clear.
Zhu Yunwen was most afraid of his fourth uncle. Now that his fourth uncle had rebelled, he was even more frightened and completely lost his backbone.
"Everyone... I love you, King Yan has rebelled. Do you have any good ideas?"
"Don't worry, Your Majesty." Fang Xiaoru cupped his hands and said, "We have a million-strong army of the Ming Dynasty, but a mere King of Yan can't be captured easily?"
"That's right!" Huang Zicheng agreed, "As soon as the master of the imperial court arrives, King Yan can only capture him without mercy!"
After a pause, he said, "The minister recommended Li Jinglong, Duke of Cao State, to be the general who conquered the captives, so that he could clear up the trouble in one fell swoop."
"I second the proposal." The minister of the Ministry of Industry came out to agree, "Dong Cao Guo defeated the court of the Yuan Dynasty in Yuerhai. Once he takes action, he will surely capture the King of Yan!"
The old blue jade god was squinting his eyes to concentrate, his ears were unsteady about what was happening outside the window.
Li Jinglong glanced at Lan Yu, his face was hot, and he coughed dryly, "The battle in the fishing sea is not the work of one person."
"Why should Duke Cao be so humble? Who else could I take the position of general to conquer the captives?" said the Minister of Rites, "The one who conquers the King of Yan must be Duke Cao."
"Your Majesty, I also second my proposal."
…
The reason why the civil servants unanimously supported Li Jinglong was because when they were fighting for the heir, Li Jinglong was on their side and belonged to one of their own.
In addition, there is a more important reason.
They wanted to indirectly influence or even control the army through Li Jinglong.
Li Qing was secretly frightened. After spending so long in the court, how could he not understand the thoughts of these civil servants?
Damn, these people are so fucking greedy.
Li Qing took a deep breath and was about to go out to recommend the first candidate in the script, but Qi Tai took the lead and said: "Your Majesty, I think that Duke Cao Guo is indeed a handsome man, but he is not the most suitable candidate."
"Who do you think is more suitable, Aiqing?" Zhu Yunwen had no idea at all.
"Back to the emperor, I think that Changxing Marquis Geng Bingwen is the most suitable."
"Marquis Changxing?"
Zhu Yunwen's eyes lit up and he nodded. He said that among the six founding princes and twenty-eight marquises, the only elders still alive today are Geng Bingwen and Guo Ying.
Both of them were generals who fought in troubled times, and their rich combat experience was even greater than that of Zhu Di.
He trusted Li Jinglong, but he also felt that as a veteran, he had little practical experience and was far less secure than veteran Geng Bingwen.
Zhu Yunwen nodded and said, "Geng Aiqing, Geng Aiqing, Geng..."
"Ah, I'm here, sir." Geng Bingwen left work with a hysterical look on his face.
"I will give you an army of 300,000, and we must annihilate King Yan's rebels in one fell swoop!"
"Ah?" Geng Bingwen was dumbfounded.
The ministers also looked dull. Is it necessary to quell a feudal king's rebellion with an army of 300,000 men?
"Your Majesty, think twice!" Fang Xiaoru said with cupped hands, "It can't be used, it can't be used at all, a hundred thousand troops are enough."
"I second the proposal." Qi Tai agreed, "As soon as the imperial army arrives, King Yan will be defeated. It is a waste to mobilize so many troops. With that money, it is better to reduce taxes for the people."
"I also second the proposal." Huang Zicheng followed closely.
It's like they are in charge, and it's completely lenient to others.
As soon as the three people said this, all the civil servants agreed. Now, they are representatives of the civil servants.
When Zhu Yunwen saw this, he seemed to feel that it was a bit of a fuss, but he felt that one hundred thousand was a bit too little, so he said, "Then let's do one hundred and thirty thousand!"
Geng Aiqing accepts the seal!"
"Old minister, listen to your orders."
Geng Bingwen felt a little relieved. It was too difficult to lose an army of 300,000, but 130,000 was much easier to use.
"I appoint you as the General of the Conqueror Army, with full power to counter the rebellion. You will be appointed as the deputy commander, vanguard, etc. Don't let me down."
"Old minister, I obey the order."
"Li Aiqing."
"I'm here."
Zhu Yunwen said, "I will appoint you as the prison warden and supervisor, and cooperate with Geng Aiqing to put an end to the rebellion of King Yan in one fell swoop."
Li Qing clasped his fists: "I obey your order."
He relaxed secretly. So far, everything was developing according to the script he expected.