It took a long time until the sound of the plane overhead disappeared. A group of officials and soldiers beside the train were still looking up in confusion, as if they were still not used to it.
After a long time, an official said:
"Your Majesty...where are you going?"
Mu Hu immediately reacted, summoned a junior officer with a wave of his hand, and ordered:
"Debao, lead the brothers in your company and run immediately to the Jingshi Airport in the eastern suburbs of Changping County to see if it was the Emperor who flew away just now! If so, ask people at the airport where the Emperor is going! If not, stay on the spot.
Escort!"
"嗻!"
The company commander immediately called a company of soldiers, ran and disappeared into the darkness.
Then, Mu Hu turned around again and asked loudly to a group of officials:
"My lords, does anyone know which carriage has a radio station?"
The officials were stunned for a moment, and one of them said:
"This... as far as I know, only the emperor's armored carriage has a radio."
"Okay, come on!" Mu Hu clapped his hands twice and ordered, "Break open the door of the armored train!"
Several officials shouted:
"Muhu, you are so bold!"
"You are presumptuous!"
"Do you want to rebel?"
Mu Hu sneered and continued:
"Now the emperor's safety is unknown, but we have so many guards trapped on this railway line and are helpless, without even a means of communication! I have the emperor's safety at heart and have no choice but to act according to his authority, but you guys dare to stop me and accuse me
You want to rebel! I think you are the ones who want to rebel! What are you thinking about!...What, my words don’t work? Just do it!"
The soldiers under his command responded at the same time:
"嗻!"
Then they swarmed forward, hammers, crowbars, bayonets, and gun butts, banging and banging for a long time, but the armored door still didn't move at all.
Mu Hu was anxious. He needed a radio station so much now. He was almost certain that Guangwu had fled, and the Qing Dynasty was now leaderless. Moreover, this was the "first time", and Beijing and even the whole country were not yet
You know. In this first moment, whoever can seize the opportunity to make arrangements according to his own ideas can be said to be able to write a mark in history. Every second now is more precious than gold.
Now in the capital, some people want to support the restoration of the former Jiade Emperor, some want to support the new emperor to ascend the throne, some want to be independent, some want to surrender to the Ming army, some want to establish a separatist regime, and some want to establish a republic... But Mu Hu wants to "have conditions"
"Surrender to the Ming Army". He must now quickly get in touch with his own forces in Beijing, and then return to Beijing to control the situation. Next, let the Ming Army re-guarantee its future national policy before welcoming the Ming Army's advance.
Beijing.
Mu Hu watched his men knocking on the armored door in vain, and became anxious. Moreover, he knew that most of the officials present were pretending to be stupid. Except for a few people who really didn't understand, most of the others were probably the same as him.
Everyone guessed*
*Bu Li Shi. But they are still afraid of "what if", fearing that if the emperor comes back again, then those who are not performing well will suffer. The fear that has shrouded it for decades cannot disappear just now.
There is also a considerable inertial force.
He thought to himself, now he has to take a gamble. Although this "what if" is also a deterrent to him, wasn't he still preparing to assassinate Guang Wu before? Now that the assassination has been successful, what should be done next?
Why? The chances of winning are always much greater now.
At this moment, the Imperial Guards from the company that had been sent out ran back panting. The company commander said breathlessly:
"Sir... Your Majesty, the Emperor is... on that plane... the airport... is almost empty, and the remaining few have all admitted..."
Mu Hu suddenly felt his blood boiling. He jumped onto the roadbed, pulled out his pistol, fired a shot into the air, and shouted loudly:
"Listen, brothers, the emperor has already taken a flight to go into exile! Now the Qing Dynasty has reached its most critical moment! As the saying goes, 'There are no tigers in the mountains, and monkeys are kings!' Now there are many military leaders, as well as clan princes.
They are all ready to make a move, with all their wild thoughts! They all seem to have a few soldiers in their open hands, either to separate themselves or bargain with the Ming army! Our Qing Dynasty will fall into chaos if we are not careful!
"The troops that can control Beijing now are our Imperial Guards! The commander of the Imperial Guards, Prince Shun, has also gone into exile with the emperor. As the deputy commander, I have no shirking responsibility at this critical moment! I declare that I will take over the Imperial Guard from this moment on.
The commander of the Guards has full authority and full authority to command the Praetorian Guards! I declare,
The city of Beijing is now in a state of emergency, and a temporary military management committee has been established, with me as the chairman! Anyone, no matter he is a prince or a minister, whether he is a civil servant or a general, from now on, must obey the arrangements of the Military Control Commission! Anyone who dares to support the army and stand on his own feet
Those who commit robberies and plunder will be killed without mercy!
"Brothers, we are all banner people, and we all have feelings for our Qing Dynasty. But now there is no need to deny that the Qing Dynasty cannot survive. Although we are banner people, we have to say with conscience that it is indeed time to change.
It’s time for heaven! But the Qing Dynasty has disappeared, and our banner people will continue to live for generations to come! The court in the south has made it clear that this war is not satisfactory to the Qing Dynasty, and will not be satisfied in the future.
It won’t be difficult for our banner people. But when people say that we have to work together, we must first hold Beijing firmly in our hands and let others like us. Only then can we negotiate terms with them and serve our banner.
There should be more people fighting! If we are beaten to pieces before they come, we will have to be cleaned up by others in a few strokes. They look down on us at all, and we can't even fight!
"Okay, brothers, how do I, Mu Hu, usually lead you? Brothers are like a mirror in their hearts. Now at this juncture, I will just say these few words. Brothers, who agrees? Who opposes?"
The surroundings were quiet for several seconds. The soldiers seemed unable to accept such a big change for a while.
Mu Hu took a deep breath and said:
"Okay, it seems that what I said is not clear enough. Let's put it this way, the current situation is like this: the emperor has run away, the Qing Dynasty is dead, and there are Ming troops four hundred and ten miles away. I just want to be a member of the Ming Dynasty,
You can go home now, but then you will be an ordinary citizen. Not only is it a great Ming Dynasty,
Anyone who still wants to be a master in the future, stay here and listen to my orders. We have to show our abilities before they come, so that I can bargain with them for you. In the future, in addition to the Ming Dynasty passport, you can also get a full-time official position.
Origin. How about it? Do you understand? Who is in favor? Who is against?"
Hundreds of guardsmen suddenly burst into cheers, shouting "Agree! Agree!"
Mu Hu's heart was beating wildly. He suppressed his ecstasy, turned around, and said to the stunned officials:
"My lords, you have heard what I just said, what do you think? Who is in favor? Who is against? Are you all willing to cooperate?"
A large group of officials looked at each other, no one dared to speak. Suddenly, one of them boldly shouted angrily:
"Mu Hu! You deserve to call yourself a bannerman! You eat and use the Qing Dynasty's food, but in the end you are a white-eyed wolf! You are a traitor..."
Mu Hu raised his hand and fired a shot. Before the word "thief" came out of the official's mouth, he fell down with blood spurting out.
All the officials were immediately frightened.
Mu Hu smiled and asked again:
"My lords, who is in favor? Who is against?"
In an instant, all the officials shouted loudly:
"We agree! We agree!"
"Okay!" Mu Hu ordered, "blow open the door of the armored carriage!"
With an order, two soldiers went up to separate the connection between the armored car and the attendant car, and then the locomotive at the end of the train drove backwards, leaving enough space between the armored car and the adjacent car.
A soldier hung a grenade on the lock of the armored door, and then everyone retreated. The soldier pulled the string, and then rolled to the bottom of the roadbed.
There was a loud noise and thick smoke billowing. When the smoke dissipated, the door of the armored carriage had been blown open.
Mu Hu jumped on it first and saw the radio station at first sight. It was a fixed radio station on an armored vehicle. It was large and powerful. If it was a portable radio station, it was probably taken away by Guangwu.
He was ecstatic and ordered:
"The Second Battalion stays and guards the Beijing Airport! Other brothers, follow me back to Beijing! Sirs, please get on the bus too!"
After giving the order, one battalion of the Imperial Guards carried guns and ran towards the capital airport. The remaining two battalions of the Imperial Guards rushed all the officials to the train, and then, under the leadership of Mu Hu, re-hook the train and killed
Return to Beijing.
…
The train drove very fast along the way. On the way, Mu Hu used the radio to continuously issue orders to Beijing. Several of his confidants knew the situation. Now that Mu Hu has not returned to Beijing, the imperial guards below have begun to take action.
.
First, one of Mu Hu's adjutants led people into the residence of another deputy commander of the Guards. Without saying a word, he shot and killed Mu Hu. In this way, Mu Hu became the only commander of the Guards, and no one could come out.
and seize control of the Praetorian Guards from him.
At the same time, several other groups of Imperial Guards rushed into the "Da Qing Radio Station" and the Telephone and Telegraph Office, and took control of these two places. These two most critical places have always been the responsibility of the special agents of the Sticky Branch, but
It was guarded by the Praetorian Guards. Now the Praetorian Guards who defended it have become occupiers, and some of the stick-stick agents in the radio station and telegraph and telephone office were also captured on the spot.
It was already seven o'clock in the evening, and Mu Hu's train had just returned to Beijing. He left a platoon of people behind, detained the officials on the train on the spot, and ordered them to stay there until tomorrow morning. Then he led the rest
More than a hundred people who came down commandeered several trucks at the train station, rushed into the city, and returned to the Praetorian Guard headquarters.
Now, as soon as he returned to his troops, Mu Hu suddenly felt like a dragon entering the sea. He immediately issued an order to close all the gates of Beijing, not allowing anyone to enter or exit, and deployed double the number of troops on the city wall.
This is equivalent to generally controlling Beijing from the periphery. Now, it is time to carry out detailed and specific operations.
Mu Hu sent an order for all officers of the Imperial Guard to report to the headquarters immediately.
There are a total of five divisions of the Guards. Usually four divisions are stationed outside the city, and one division is stationed inside the city, rotating regularly. Now, most of the officers and soldiers of this division in the city don't know what is going on, but they have already
Smelling an abnormal smell, they all wondered what had happened. But the four divisions stationed outside the city hadn't even smelled it yet.
Now the order was given, and within half an hour, dozens of officers of battalions and above from five divisions inside and outside the city gathered in the courtyard of the headquarters in the city.
Mu Hu stood on the steps in front of the office building and said loudly what he had said before. Moreover, his focus was: the emperor ran away, the Qing Dynasty was actually gone, and it was now in a short power vacuum.
The princes and ministers don’t know the news yet, but we know it first. So, we must seize the opportunity now.
Become the master of the city of Beijing, bargain with the Ming army, and find a way out for yourself after the change of dynasty, so that you will not spend the rest of your life squatting at home in poverty. The most important thing now is that our brothers in the Imperial Guard must be united and not become a mess.
.Otherwise, those clan princes would like to be more independent, so it would not be our turn.
After some training, it had an unexpected effect. Many young junior officers were immediately dizzy with excitement. They wanted to support Mu Hu as emperor and wear a yellow robe. Several of them wanted to shout "Long live" to Mu Hu.
.
And those division commanders all seemed very worried. Mu Hu knew that they were mainly afraid that they would lie and want to stage a coup, using the excuse that the emperor had run away and trying to drag everyone down.
"Don't take the opportunity that comes to me, okay!" Mu Hu waved his hand and said decisively, "If you are afraid, then don't even take it as a division commander. Take off your epaulettes, hand over your ID and gun, I will officially withdraw now.
you."
The five division commanders were still dumbfounded. Mu Hu quickly pointed out the five people who seemed the most active, excited, and eager to get started among the dozen regiment leaders below. He listed these five regiment commanders on the spot.
The chief was promoted to division commander.
Now, the entire Imperial Guard has simply been replaced and can be used with greater confidence.
…
The Imperial Guard Headquarters has now become the coup headquarters, or the Provisional Military Control Commission. After the "tiger" Guangwu escaped, Mu Hu seized the opportunity and became the first "monkey king."
The officers and civilian staff of the headquarters have all been recruited from home to work overtime urgently. Now it has become a hive of busy operations. The telephones are ringing one after another, the telegraph keys are tapping, and the communication soldiers are also holding on.
The radio microphone called "Dongyao, Dongyao, I am Dongliang" to communicate...
Mu Hu became the core and soul of all this. He paced triumphantly, dictating one order after another amidst the noise:
——Arrest all officials of the Sticking Division and seize all files at the Sticking Division headquarters;
——Surround the palace, search for any relatives that the late Emperor Guangwu may have left behind, and appease the concubines in the harem;
——Seal all the residences of princes, clans, ministers and nobles, prohibiting anyone from entering or exiting, and prohibiting them from communicating with each other, including Prince Gong;
——Rescued the late emperor from Yingtai, welcomed him to the Imperial Guard headquarters (not the palace), and sent heavy troops to defend him;
——In the name of the late Emperor Jiade, he drafted a decree to control the Eight Banners Army outside Beijing;