Chapter 122: Gathering the Nine Clans to Delay Time

Wang Yingjun also helped to plead, "General, this man is a virtuous official with a great reputation. When he was a county magistrate, he distributed his property to the poor people, which caused a sensation in Fujian at the time. When he was the governor of Fujian, he fought against Japanese pirates and fought against Western barbarians in Guangdong and Guangxi. The red barbarian cannons in Northern Zhili and Liaodong were obtained by him."

"Yes, yes, yes. The eleven cannons in Ningyuan City were salvaged from the sea by fishermen from Guangdong and Guangxi. In the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, I ordered people to deliver them to the two capitals. Twenty-six cannons were salvaged at that time. One exploded during the test firing, leaving twenty-five. Eleven of them were sent to Shanhaiguan and then transferred to Ningyuan City. I experienced the whole process and I am not lying at all."

Shang Zhouzuo knew that Marshal Li had participated in the defense of Ningyuan, so he quickly explained the deeds that most impressed Marshal Li.

Li Hao dismounted, walked up to him and asked, "This is not right. The eleven cannons in Ningyuan City were purchased from the Portuguese. How come they were salvaged by fishermen from Guangdong and Guangxi?"

Shang Zhouzuo's statement was inconsistent with the origin of the cannon that the Liao soldiers had heard, so Marshal Li became confused.

Shangbudang was not reserved either. He just knelt down and explained the reason in detail.

"In the first year of the Tianqi reign, four guns were indeed purchased with silver. The next twenty-five guns were all salvaged by fishermen from sunken ships. There were a total of twenty-nine guns, eleven of which were in Liaozhen and eighteen in Beijing. Marshal Li and the Liao soldiers may have heard that someone in the Ministry of War used these twenty-five guns to make up a name and took a sum of money in the name of external purchase."

It just so happened that he was the organizer of this matter, and in order to save his life, Shang Zhouzuo could not care about much.

"Mr. Wang said that you fought against Japanese pirates when you were the governor of Fujian. I want to ask you, how many big battles did you fight during your tenure? How many Japanese pirates' heads were captured?"

Li Hao asked again.

"Only four times, Gulangyu Island... In the six years before and after, we captured more than 400 heads of Japanese pirates."

Even though his face was pale, Shang Zhouzuo still answered fluently. He was a high-ranking official before, so he was not so scared that he pissed himself.

"Only 400, far less than Qi Jiguang. Marshal Qi killed 7,000 in 13 years."

Li Hao said with disdain, "Since you have led the army to fight against the Japanese pirates, I will spare your death sentence, but you cannot escape the punishment of life. I will send someone to take you to the city now. You ask the court to gather all the nine clans of Wei Zhongxian and Liu Yingkun's eunuchs and send them to Guangqumen. We will not attack Beijing for now."

After his near-death experience, Shang Zhouzuo lost all his fighting spirit. Even though his hands were tied, he knelt down on the ground and kowtowed obediently.

Li Hao called over Boss Shang and ordered him to take Shang Zhouzuo to knock on the door.

"Don't forget about the 25 red cannons. No matter who did it, you must hand over a man to me. If you can't, I will attack the city tomorrow."

Before leaving, Marshal Li gave another reminder.

This place is still seven or eight miles away from Guangqumen in Beijing City, and is suitable as a temporary camp. After ordering the Liao soldiers and militiamen to stay there, Li Hao summoned the general Qianbazong and Wang Xiucai to discuss the siege.

"It takes several days to build a trebuchet, and there are only four or five thousand militiamen. If we concentrate our forces to attack one gate, it will take several days to take it down."

What they mainly lacked was a trebuchet that could throw heavy projectiles. The commander, his armor, and his weapon weighed more than 240 to 250 kilograms, and the lever of an ordinary trebuchet could not support it.

"The Marshal can move his troops to Yongding Gate or Guang'an Gate. All goods entering and leaving Beijing will go through these two gates. If you block these two gates, the Emperor will definitely bring Wei Zhongxian out to take the blame."

Wang Yingjun suggested.

The structure of Beijing city is a convex U-shaped structure. Guangqumen is the lower east city gate, Yongdingmen is the lower south city gate, and Guang'anmen is the west city gate.

What Wang Xiucai said made some sense, but Li Hao didn't want to do that.

"We will stay here, and in the next few days, we will only attack Guangqu Gate when attacking the city, and it may be effective."

The Jinyiwei and post station systems inside the pass had not yet completely failed, and martial law had already been imposed near the capital. With the supplies and food stored in Beijing, blocking the West Gate and South Gate had little impact on the lives of the city's dignitaries.

"We do need to send people to monitor the city gates. My godsons, pick some capable men to go to the city gates to stand guard. If you encounter Ming soldiers, don't fight them, just come back and report the military situation."

The Liao soldiers came suddenly, and only some merchants in Beijing were able to escape. The dignitaries could not bear the cold winter and ran south. Perhaps they had no intention of running away at all.

The Liao soldiers only need to monitor the reinforcements from all directions.

……

The Palace of Heavenly Purity in Beijing.

The emperor's cough echoed throughout the hall, and relatives of Emperor Tianqi, including Concubine Xuanyi Liu and Empress Yi'an Zhang, gathered together.

Liu, the Concubine Xuanyi who held the Empress Dowager's seal, sat on a chair and looked at the swollen emperor. "Marshal Li only made a few mistakes, which are much smaller than Wei Zhongxian's. He only brought a few thousand troops. If he doesn't want to withdraw his troops, he can be promoted to a king. Why is Your Majesty so nervous?"

Liu had always been known for her virtue. Although she was well aware of the situation in the court, she generally did not discuss state affairs in front of the emperor.

Now the situation is special, so she just said a few words. "Is my brother here?" Zhu Youxiao ignored his nominal grandmother and asked about his younger brother, Prince Xin.

His relationship with Prince Xin was closer than that with Queen Zhang.

"Your Majesty, I am here."

Prince Xin strode into the hall and walked straight to the couch where his brother was lying. He leaned over the couch and held his brother the emperor's hand.

"The situation is critical! My brother should go out of Xizhimen and go to Nanjing via Henan. If anything happens to Beijing, my brother will be the Yao and Shun of the Ming Dynasty."

Although the emperor's voice was low, everyone in the hall heard it clearly. Concubine Xuanyi Liu and Empress Zhang all spoke out to dissuade him.

Even Zhu Youjian himself was shocked, thinking that this was his brother the emperor testing him, so he kept declining.

"Your Majesty, what are you talking about? Yesen and Altan were helpless even when they had tens of thousands of cavalrymen at the gates of Beijing. It is enough to confer a hereditary title on a mere general of Liaodong."

Having not been favored since childhood, suspicion and mistrust have become Zhu Youjian's instincts.

Emperor Tianqi took a deep breath and held his brother's hand tightly. "It's already this time, why are you still talking nonsense? Help me up, I have arranged your way out."

The fact that he didn't care about state affairs didn't mean he didn't understand military affairs. It was said that Li Ni outside the city could use a catapult to climb to the top of the city wall and could not defeat ten thousand people. By this calculation, it would only take three to five days for Beijing to fall.

Zhu Youjian helped his brother sit on the couch, tucked in the hem of his dragon-patterned robe, then stepped back a few steps and knelt down.

Queen Zhang and the eunuchs and palace maids in the hall also knelt down. Concubine Xuanyi Liu also straightened her chair and waited for the emperor's order.

"I have seven brothers, but now only Prince Xin and I are left. The Ming Dynasty cannot be destroyed. The traitor Li has already set up camp eight miles outside Guangqumen. Prince Xin will leave the city this afternoon and go to Nanjing to take orders. Concubine Xuanyi will go with Prince Xin."

After Emperor Tianqi arranged for the two most important relatives, he looked at Empress Zhang and asked, "Do you want to go to Nanjing, or stay with me in the palace?"

This was a rather ruthless question; the emperor wanted Zhang to express her willingness to stay in Beijing.

"I am willing to stay by your side for the rest of my life. If the city is breached, I will find a rope myself and will never bring shame to your majesty."

The 19-year-old queen was quite sensible. She knew that the emperor was determined to sacrifice his life for the country, so she agreed readily on the spot.

"Good!" The Emperor Tianqi showed a rare warm smile. "Since you are so loyal and brave, I will relieve you of one thing. Liu Chao, you take people to arrest Wei Zhongxian and Ke Shi. Wei Zhongxian will be detained and awaiting the court's decision. His private residence will be searched and the money obtained will be distributed to the soldiers in the Beijing camp. Ke Shi will be sentenced to death."

Empress Zhang had been pregnant, but had a miscarriage caused by Keshi. Zhang was also a well-known virtuous queen, and she often used her status to protect the eunuchs and palace maids who were harmed by Keshi and Wei Zhongxian. Therefore, the two sides were incompatible.

Liu Chao was a eunuch close to the Emperor's father, Emperor Taichang, and was deeply involved in the palace move case. He is currently the governor of the Qianqing Palace and the seal holder of the Imperial Stables. He and Liu Yingkun take turns to be the governor of the Zhongwu Camp, the most powerful camp in the Beijing Camp.

The old eunuch jumped up happily, slid to his knees in front of Emperor Tianqi and kowtowed to thank him, "Should the eunuch party officials outside the court be arrested as well?"

The only response he got for this was "get out". Liu Chao kowtowed again and happily led his men to capture Eunuch Wei in the imperial city.

He and Yuan Chonghuan had a close relationship. Some of the cavalry in the Zhongwu Camp were trained according to the advice of Governor Yuan and modeled after the Liaozhen cavalry.

The situation in the Qianqing Palace was miserable, and the court discussions in the Wenhua Hall were not much better.

"Marshal Sun will arrive the day after tomorrow. Most of the Liao soldiers and generals are his subordinates. Perhaps the situation can turn around." Prime Minister Huang Liji was hoping for a lucky break.

After winning the Battle of Ningyuan, Sun Chengzong briefly returned to officialdom, but could not stand the exclusion of eunuch officials, so he returned to his hometown in northern Zhili to retire.

Now that the country is in crisis, the eunuch party cabinet is unable to deal with the Liao army's mutiny, and asks the emperor to call old man Sun back.

"How can there be any chance of a turnaround? This Li Ni came to Beijing to rebel."

The voice of Emperor Tianqi sounded, he saw things much more clearly than the eunuch cabinet.

The officials participating in the court discussion knelt down and saluted. The emperor's change of attitude made them at a loss. Did he really want to fight the Liao soldiers?
Prime Minister Huang responded on behalf of all the officials regarding the matters that had just been agreed upon, and Emperor Tianqi gave orders while coughing lightly.

"According to Li Ni's request, we will gather all nine clans of the eunuchs and send them all out of the city to delay time. Wei Zhongxian has a lot of property, which we will divide among the soldiers of the Zhongwu Camp. When General Sun arrives, let him be the governor of the Beijing Camp and the reinforcements."

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(End of this chapter)