Episode 180 Assassination of Emperor Guangwu (Part 1)
Episode 180 Assassination of Emperor Guangwu (Part 1)
The Qing Army Headquarters in Beijing was still noisy. But compared with the early days of the war, the noise here was less exciting and more of a kind of depression. During the busy period, many officers
There would still be chatting and laughing, and some whispering, but at least it was normal.
But now, no one is chatting with each other, and no one dares to whisper. Apart from shouting instructions on the phone, they don't even dare to talk about the war situation. - At this time, everyone no longer cares, and they all know that the dynasty is about to change.
The most important thing now is not winning or losing on the front line, but that you are safe.
Sometimes there is no telephone or telegraph, and the hall will fall into sudden silence. Everyone refuses to speak and is immersed in drawing. Those who have nothing to draw will pretend to be immersed in drawing to avoid making loud noises.
At this time, there was a terrifying silence in the command hall, as if the air had solidified. It wasn't until a phone suddenly rang and the officer in charge picked it up to speak that the noisy noise in the hall slowly returned.
Even Emperor Guangwu himself has changed. In the past, he often appeared in the command hall and commanded the troops personally. But in the past ten days, although he has stayed at the headquarters full time, he has rarely appeared in the command hall.
inside, and always summoning people in the side hall at the back, as if commanding another secret team. The generals and officers in the command hall in the front all know that they are all people from the sticky post.
The headquarters is in the palace, in the southwest corner of the Forbidden City, with Wuying Hall as the central command hall, surrounded by Jingsi Hall, Huanzhang Hall, Ningdao Hall, Baoyun Tower, Nanxun Hall, and Xihua Gate to the west.
It is adjacent to the lantern warehouse and the turret in the south. The entire headquarters accounts for about one-twelfth of the area of the Forbidden City.
Guangwu had full consideration when setting up the headquarters in the palace. From the moment he came to power, what he feared most was assassinations and coups, and he was afraid that others would follow his example. If the headquarters was located in the palace, the number of troops would be greatly reduced.
The chance of getting out of the palace. But outside the palace, the chance of being assassinated is huge.
In addition, even if a coup occurs, since the headquarters is in the palace, Guangwu can easily control the main leaders of the entire Qing army. Even if the Forbidden City is surrounded outside, before the rebels attack, he can
You can still command and mobilize any other nearby garrison.
Now, Guangwu has benefited from foresight. The first and most direct benefit is that by locating the headquarters in the Forbidden City, Ming army aircraft will not set it as a bombing target. Although the Qing army headquarters is not like the Ming army
The high command is hiding in the mountains like that
In the abdominal fortress, it is safer than the Ming Army Headquarters. Because the ancient buildings in the Forbidden City are the best "hostages". However, this benefit has only been realized recently. When the war began, Guangwu did not expect that the war would be
Come to Beijing.
Another big benefit, Guangwu is getting now. It’s just that Guangwu himself doesn’t know it.
Because Guangwu stayed in the palace all day long, which brought great difficulties to the coup planned by Mu Hu. Because the loyalty of the Imperial Guard was already very high, and Mu Hu was only one of the two deputy commanders.
, only controls half of the military power. Counting the brother of the commander Guangwu, it can be said that he only controls one-third of the military power. In addition, Sticky Branch also conducts pervasive infiltration and surveillance of the Imperial Guards.
Although there is only one regiment of the Royal Guards in the palace, this regiment is directly controlled by Guangwu's younger brother and cannot be commanded by others. Therefore, it is impossible to arrest Guangwu directly in response to the call from the palace.
The easier thing to do is to assassinate Guangwu first. Once Guangwu dies, the remaining cohesion between the stick and the Imperial Guard will be gone. Then it will be much easier to control.
But even if it is an assassination, the most ideal condition is to let Guangwu go out of the city to inspect other places and assassinate him in the middle. This has the highest success rate. Even if he cannot leave the city, at least let him leave the palace. There are at least half of the imperial guards Muhu outside the palace.
Command power. But now Guangwu does not even leave the palace, and the surrounding security can be said to be impeccable.
…
Now, Mu Hu is in a toilet in the headquarters, talking to another person in a low voice. This person is the Minister of Military and Aircraft Guade Xin.
Guade Xin was dragged into the water by the Ming People's Guards long ago and became a spy. At first, he was very reluctant. It was purely because he was caught and had to do it to save his family and life. But as time went by, he found that he did not
It was so dangerous as I imagined, but I gradually got used to it. What’s more, every time it was mentioned
Providing important information to the Ming Dynasty can always get a large sum of money in return. Especially in the near future, when the defeat of the Qing Dynasty has been determined, Guade Xin is in a very good mood, but he is glad that he has been developed into a spy by Nan Ming a long time ago.
After a period of time, when the dynasty changes, he will still be a hero, and he will still be prosperous and wealthy.
Now, after Ming Dynasty learned about Mu Hu's difficulties, he instructed the two to contact each other. Guade Xin is the Minister of Military and Aircraft, one of the most core ministers, and needs to meet with Guang Wu frequently. He often has the opportunity to enter and leave the headquarters. Guade Xin and Mu Hu originally
We all know each other, but we don't have much friendship. Now I heard from Nanjing that the other party is also a member of the same group, which is very surprising.
"I dare not say that it will definitely work..." Gua Dexin said in a low voice, "I can only try my best... to encourage the emperor to go out to inspect the troops. This is not something that can be mentioned without reason. You have to wait for the right opportunity...
Otherwise, the emperor becomes suspicious and everyone is doomed..."
Mu Hu suppressed his breath and whispered:
"Master Gua, the situation is imminent now, and we can't wait any longer. Tianjin is about to be taken... We have hundreds of thousands of troops, we can't just wait for you alone... Master Gua, there is nothing to be afraid of, I can do everything with my own hands."
Don't be afraid, just say a word from the side, there is nothing to be afraid of..."
Guadexin argued:
"I'm not afraid...how could I be afraid...we have to wait for the opportunity..."
…
However, the "opportunity" Guadexin mentioned soon came.
On March 1, the Ming army captured Tianjin, and the People's Guard Armored Division on the northern line, the mechanized division on the southern line, and the Army joined forces. Since then, the southern encirclement of the Tianjin-Baoding line has been formed, and Beijing has been surrounded by three divisions in the east, west, and south.
The directions are closed.
Now, the Ming army in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan battlefield has entered into rest and recuperation, while the Fengtian Ming army in the north has occupied Chifeng and is advancing towards Chengde in the southwest. The Shanxi Ming army has also launched a new offensive to the north after a long period of rest and recuperation.
, the goal is to capture Zhangjiakou.
The intention of the attack direction of these two armies is very obvious, which is to join forces north of Yanshan and block the last gap to the north of Beijing. Once surrounded on all sides, it will be impossible for Guangwu to escape from the land.
Guadexin also proved with his actions that he was not a coward. He seized the opportunity and suggested to Guangwu:
——The garrison in Yanshan is now the top priority. Now the Qing Dynasty still controls large areas of land in Inner and Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Xinjiang, etc. If it doesn't work, we can still withdraw into the interior. The sources of troops and food in these places,
Taxes and taxes are the basis for persisting in the future and counterattacking the Southern Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the Ming army must not be allowed to join forces in the north.
.Once the capital is surrounded from all sides, the Qing Dynasty will be like a dragon trapped in a shoal, and its remaining potential will not be unleashed. It is impossible to withdraw into the interior and persist. So now the emperor must go to the Yanshan Army in person to prepare for
The soldiers boosted their morale, encouraged them to fight bravely, resisted the Ming army, and bought time for the imperial court to withdraw into the interior.
Guangwu listened to his suggestion and pondered for a long time. Finally, Guangwu finally agreed to adopt Guadexin's suggestion and ordered him to form a team to secretly prepare for the capital move. At the same time, Guangwu also started to make arrangements for the trip.
Gua Dexin endured the excitement and withdrew and told Mu Hu the news. Mu Hu was also very excited. After thanking him, he immediately went back to plan the assassination.
…
On the morning of March 4th, the weather was very bad, the sky was gloomy, and dark clouds were approaching the ground like lead masses. This was a sign that another heavy snowfall was about to approach. Guangwu’s travel security was in charge of the sticky pole department. Sticky Rod Office
He had prepared for three days to defend the emperor, and Mu Hu had also prepared for three days to assassinate the emperor. Until today, after Guangwu looked at the dark clouds above his head for a while and then read the weather report, he suddenly decided:
"Password, let's go out today."
This kind of weather means that you will not be subject to air attacks by the Ming army throughout the journey. In addition, the snow on both sides of the railway bed is very thick, but there has been no new snow in the past two days. This provides convenience for discovering rail bombs. If you see
If there are abnormal footprints near the roadbed, or the snow in the middle of the track shows signs of being turned over, you can be more vigilant.
After a secret order, both the sticky pole and the imperial guards began to move as fast as possible. Guangwu made the decision at eight o'clock in the morning, and at nine o'clock in the morning, the special train at Beijing Railway Station was fully loaded with Guangwu, Prince Shuoshun, and Yu Xuan.
Yonggui, the deputy commander on the right side of the sticky pole, Mu Hu, deputy commander of the Imperial Guards, and 800 Imperial Guards slowly drove out of the platform.
The suddenness of the trip meant that Mu Hu didn't even have time to notify Prince Gong and Nanjing before he was quickly followed into the car.
Half of the eight hundred imperial guards on board were personally commanded by Guangwu's younger brother Yu Xuan, and the other half were Mu Hu's subordinates. Fortunately, Guangwu believed that he could not take all the imperial guards in the palace and had to stay behind.
Half, to prevent all the direct lineage from leaving, and non-lineage members taking the opportunity to plant bombs in the palace. In this way, the four hundred imperial guards under Mu Hu's direct command would have the opportunity to board the train.
It is almost impossible to bring a bomb on a train. From generals to soldiers, everyone must thoroughly check their luggage and search themselves. Not to mention that the Qing army does not have plastic explosives. Even if they do, they can at most squeeze the plastic explosives into long strips and stuff them in their belts.
But it's no use just having explosives. There's still no way to hide things like detonators, timers, and detonators.
Fortunately, since late February, Nanjing has been sending people to infiltrate and bring plastic explosives in one trip. When the last delivery was made, Mu Hu already had a total of 11 kilograms of plastic explosives on hand. This kind of
Explosives are inherently useful tools for blasting railways. On March 1, Guadexin told him that Guangwu had recently
After going to Yanshan, that night, Mu Hu sent his confidants with explosives to plant three roadbed bombs on the railway that the Guangwu special train must pass through. He knew that this matter could not be delayed. As long as Guangwu made the decision to travel, maybe it would be the first time.
In the next two days, people will be sent to block the railway and inspect the roadbed. Then there will be no chance to bury it.
What a coincidence, the day after the bomb was planted, it snowed heavily. This was really a blessing from God.
The three bombs were all connected to buildings far away from the roadbed with fuses. When the special train passed by and Guangwu's armored carriage reached the bomb, the switch was turned. The power of the bomb was enough to overturn the armored carriage from the roadbed.
At this time, Mu Hu was about to take a risk. He had to raise his arms and command his men to fight with the other 400 people.
…
The train was panting and heading north. Mu Hu sat in the luxurious seat and looked at the receding ice and snow scene outside the window, pretending to be a relaxed smile. But he was uneasy in his heart.
The coup was about to be launched without sufficient preparation.