Chapter 983: Gradually Falling (Part 1)
Southeast of the outer city, Zuoanmen.
It was almost noon, and Sun Shaozong was sitting in a pergola not far from the gate. The only person sitting at the same table with him was the city gatekeeper.
The city gate clerk is a deputy among the gatekeepers, ranking below the city gate commander, and is a military officer of the seventh rank.
At this time, there were not only six-rank centurions but also three fifth-rank thousand-householders standing around. Although no one would even look at him, the city gate official still felt as if sitting on pins and needles.
He wanted to stand up several times, but when he saw Sun Shaoqing opposite him, who seemed leisurely but was holding Frostmourne tightly, he had no strength in his legs.
Just as he tried to stand up for the sixth time, a man came out of the city gate with big strides and shouted from a distance: "Sir, everyone in the city is closed, but the city gates are still bustling. I asked someone to buy some wine and food outside the city. Please make do with some of them for now."
Then he brought a huge tray with nine fingers, on which were three plates, two bowls, and a pot of steaming hot wine.
He scalded the chopsticks with tea and respectfully offered them with both hands. After Sun Shaozong took it, he reported: "No trace of the hot air balloon has been found outside the city yet, but I heard that several blood letters fell from the sky. I don't know who picked them up. I have already arranged for someone to look for them."
Letter in blood?
Sun Shaozong frowned when he heard this. This was not good news. Firstly, the hot air balloon must have flown out of the city. Secondly, since the message had been conveyed by dropping a blood letter, the people on the hot air balloon would most likely not be in a hurry to land.
If it flies over a hundred miles in one breath, where can I find it?
As for those so-called blood letters, even if they can be found, I'm afraid they may not be of much use - after all, this thing is not a tiger talisman, how can there be any perfect way to make people sure on the spot that it is not a forgery?
He was anxious in his heart, but his face showed no sign of it. He slowly picked up a piece of donkey meat with chopsticks, chewed and swallowed it, and then ordered: "Leave some old, weak, women and children in the city, and spread the rest out."
The only thing we can rely on now is the human wave tactic.
Fortunately, there were already nearly two thousand beggars who had come from all over the city. Excluding the old, weak, sick and disabled who were the most useless among them, there were still fifteen hundred of them.
Adding in the Dragon Guards mixed in with the beggars, the number can just make up a total of two thousand.
Hong Jiu respectfully accepted the order. He originally wanted to discuss the specific details with Shen Lian, but after looking around he couldn't find Shen Lian. He secretly thought that the other party might have been assigned another task, so he had to grit his teeth and take on the task of searching alone.
…
The West Garden of the Imperial Palace.
Prince Zhongshun rushed into the palace in a hurry, only to see the retired emperor holding a gold-enamel bird cage and teasing a parrot that could mimic words. He couldn't help but feel anxious and angry, and he wanted to rush forward and snatch the cage away, and then kick it out of the window.
But this is just something I can only think about in my mind.
He quickly came closer, bowed and said with a smile: "Father, there was a small accident outside."
Seeing that the emperor had no reaction, he could only force a smile and said, " Sun Shaozong, is simply insane. He even coerced the patrolmen who were responsible for guarding him, swallowed up the troops we sent out, and mobilized many beggars in the city to search everywhere!"
Looking at the emperor again, he was still sucking his tongue and teasing the bird.
Prince Zhongshun was really anxious and couldn't help asking, "Father, how should we deal with this? You have to make a decision!"
The emperor glanced at him calmly and asked, "Then how should we deal with it according to your opinion?"
"Move the Huben Battalion into the city to quell the rebellion! The Sun brothers have extensive connections in the Dragon Guards, the Divine Machine Battalion, and the Patrol Battalion. Even Qiu Ying, the Right Commander of the Five Cities Military Department, is a close friend of his family. Only the Huben Battalion has been stationed outside the city. Since Qiu Ying was transferred, it has had no connection with the Sun family!"
These words came out of his mouth without hesitation, obviously they had been considered long ago.
Upon hearing this, the Emperor returned his attention to the bird cage again, and said nonchalantly, "The Imperial Seal is already in your hands. Since you have made up your mind, just do it. Do you really want your father to write for you?"
Prince Zhongshun
Previously, in order to prevent the retired emperor from abusing power, he specially asked Li Tong to lead a team to search outside the palace; but now that he encountered setbacks, he hoped that the retired emperor's men could take the lead.
Fortunately, the retired emperor did not care about anything. He immediately selected a close attendant in the palace and told him to obey King Zhongshun's orders.
King Zhongshun was naturally overjoyed, and quickly ordered someone to forge an imperial edict, which the eunuch took to the Huben Camp outside the city.
The book does not elaborate.
However, the eunuch rushed all the way to the Huben Camp and read the imperial edict to the commander of the Huben Camp. The commander did not refuse or question it, but only said that it was in a hurry and the person to be captured was a powerful general like Sun Shiwan, so some preparations had to be made before sending out troops.
After saying this, he indicated that he was going to select elite soldiers and generals, and asked the eunuch in charge of announcing the decree to wait in the big tent for a moment.
But the eunuch who announced the decree waited and waited, but did not see the Huben commander return. He could not help but walk out of the tent and ask the personal soldiers in front of the door what happened.
But the two bodyguards knew nothing about anything and could only advise him to be patient and wait for the admiral to come back.
The eunuch who delivered the imperial edict became increasingly anxious and wanted to break into the camp to look for the person, but the Tiger Guard Camp was quite large and he didn't know how to find the other party.
Just as he was feeling helpless and furious, he suddenly noticed that not far ahead, there were several soldiers escorting a civil servant. They had been walking back and forth in front of the big tent several times, and he had no idea what they were doing.
After looking for a while without any clue, the eunuch who announced the decree could not help but ask the personal guards in the tent nearby.
"You mean that person?"
But the guard said, "They were sent by the patrol battalion. They said it was Li Tong, the chief of the Zhongshun Palace. At that time, the officer of the patrol battalion was full of nonsense, saying that there was a change in the palace and someone was planning a rebellion. How could our commander-in-chief believe it? He immediately drove them out of the tent!"
As he said this, he pointed at those people and said, "Look, they are still refusing to leave!"
The eunuch who delivered the imperial edict's expression changed drastically when he heard this. Although he was not very smart, he could see that this was a show staged just for him.
With Li Tong as a "witness", although the Huben Admiral has not yet completely sided with Sun Shaozong, he will most likely have doubts about the decree issued from the palace.
But the Tiger Guard Admiral just now did not say a word, but agreed immediately and then disappeared.
Obviously, the other party is preparing to use the tactic of procrastination and wait and see how things develop, and then it will not be too late to choose a side!
After thinking this through, he also realized that there was no point in him staying here any longer, and his life might be in danger if he delayed for too long. So he hurriedly left a few words of urgency, claiming that he had important matters to attend to, and then whipped his horse and fled back to the city.
