The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 613
The steward of the Meng Mansion approached and whispered: "Master Chai, Eunuch Chai sent a message in the morning, saying that the Queen Mother will preside over the banquet every day during the Daqing Palace, so it is not difficult to ask our people to sneak into the palace. But according to the Empress Dowager's orders, the Imperial Hospital has a dozen or so imperial physicians accompanying the Emperor at any time, and the Imperial Battalion has added guards..."

"What the hell is he trying to say?!"

The steward bowed carefully and said: "Eunuch Chai said that the original discussion tonight may have to be postponed for a few days."

"Slow! Slow! How many days has this been slow?!" Meng Zheng was so anxious that the veins on his forehead twitched, "It's rare for Zhu Linmi to leave Nanjing. If he returns, things will be even more difficult."

He sent the housekeeper to check the news again, and then a handsome young man walked out of the room behind him, but it was Aruna in men's clothes, who cupped his hands at him and said, "Master Meng, I see the situation, continue to wait." There is absolutely no way."

Meng Zhengfa said with a bitter face: "But even Eunuch Chai from the Imperial Dining Room can't find a way to strike. We can't break into the Forbidden City to snatch people."

"I just thought of a plan." Aruna squinted her eyes and looked towards the direction of the palace. "Since there was no chance to strike, we made our own. This person really needs to be robbed!"

"Steal people? What does the guard mean?"

"As far as I know, only the West Sixth Palace in the Forbidden City is heavily guarded, and the rest of the palaces are still being repaired. We can first send people disguised as craftsmen to lie down in the East Palace to Shenwumen, and then set the palace on fire... ..."

Meng Zhengfa's eyes lit up when he heard the words, and he immediately continued: "In order to avoid the fire, the queen mother will take the emperor to the nearest Shenwumen to leave the palace. We took advantage of the chaos to intercept the queen mother and the emperor halfway, and exchanged the two fakes. Give it to General Dong of the imperial camp, and then send the little emperor out of the city, and the event will be settled!"

Aruna nodded slightly, "It's just that if there is such a big disturbance in the palace, I'm afraid the imperial army will close the gate of the city and someone has to hold back one side of the gate. My men will be able to leave the city in half an hour at most..."

The two were plotting, when they suddenly heard that the gate of the courtyard was pushed open with a bang, Guanshi Zhang who had just left hurried back, and said with a happy face: "Master, good news! Just now there is a brigade of imperial battalion pouring out of the palace. , went straight to Chaoyang Gate along Jingjie Street. Then the little one bumped into Dong Xueyi’s confidant, and he said that the Empress Dowager and the Son of Heaven would go to Xiaoling to worship!”

"Sacrifice to the mausoleum?" Meng Zhengfa was taken aback for a moment, "There was a great sacrifice just a few days ago, how can we go again?"

How did he know that the Empress Dowager Zeng worshiped at Xiaoling twice, the son just happened to open his eyes for the first time, and woke up completely for the last time.People in the Ming Dynasty were extremely superstitious, and she was certain in her heart that this was the spirit of the Taizu in heaven to protect her descendants.

Exactly yesterday, Zhu Linyuan broke free from her swaddling clothes at night and suffered from a bit of wind and cold. The Empress Dowager Zeng fell ill again when she saw her son recovering, she panicked immediately.Seeing that the imperial physicians hadn't come up with a suitable prescription for a long time, she thought of asking her ancestors to show their spirits to cure the little emperor's illness in a hurry.

So she immediately ordered to drive to Zijin Mountain, and prepared to take Zhu Linyuan to kowtow and make offerings in front of Taizu's spirit.

But Aruna reacted first, cupped her hands and said urgently: "Master Meng, whatever the reason, the little emperor wants to leave the city by himself, this is a god-sent opportunity!"

Meng Zhengfa was also agitated, and nodded hurriedly, "Yes, yes! It doesn't take much effort to find nowhere to go through the iron shoes, and we can start on the way..."

He turned to Guanshi Zhang and said, "Hurry up, take those two 'fakes' out of the city, and then send someone back to the mansion to inform the second wife and Peng'er to go to the ferry... No, no, go tell the old horse first, Tell him to lead his family to ambush on the way to Zijin Mountain."

Empress Dowager Zeng was about to leave the palace suddenly, which was completely out of his original plan, which made him lose his balance.

Aruna interrupted him and said: "Master Meng, your first priority is to find Huang Jingfang and ask him to try to enforce martial law in Nanjing City. Then go to the military officer Peng Li and ask him to do this...

"As for the matter of ambushing and robbing people, it's safer to leave it to me. It's just that it happened suddenly. I don't know if the fake emperor used to replace it can delay the delay...Master Meng still put your people in the north." On the way to the mouth of the Yangtze River, tell them to stop the pursuers. Then we will meet at the ferry and sail west."

"Okay, I'll go find Huang Jingfang now!"

Meng Zhengfa came out of the temporarily bought house and rushed to Huang's mansion.On the other hand, Aruna sent a team to the south of the city, and rode her horse to the direction of Zijin Mountain.

……

Ten miles to the northeast of Nanjing City, six or seven people dressed as scholars, surrounded by dozens of entourages, were riding towards Xingyuanli on horseback.

One of them was flipping through the "Three Character Classics—Pinyin Zhuban" in his hand, and said to the young man beside him with a smile: "With Mr. Mu's booklet of pinyin recognition, these village boys would not I can read by myself."

"That's right. I heard from Mr. Mu that this pinyin was created by His Royal Highness Fuzheng Wang. Your Highness's whimsy is astonishing..."

"Mr. Mu is also a great writer. Not only has he established seven or eight elementary schools in various places in Yingtianfu, it is said that he has printed 15 copies of this literacy booklet alone, plus the [-] printed by the imperial court. Almost everyone has a copy."

"This Mr. Mu is really serious about running the elementary school. How much money will it cost?"

"There must be 3 or [-] taels before and after..."

"Hey, do you know the origin of Mr. Mu? His family is so rich."

Someone glanced at Mu Zhiqing, who was at the front of the line, and whispered: "The eyes of the brothers are not good, didn't you realize that Mr. Mu is actually a girl's family?"

"Ah? What Brother Li said is true?"

"No wonder I see her delicate features..."

"It's not just beautiful features? I dare say that if she changed her daughter's attire, she would definitely be the most beautiful girl in the world."

Then Li Xiucai said again: "I also heard that Mr. Mu has a close relationship with His Highness the Assistant Prince, he actually..." He smiled mysteriously, "It is the future Assistant Prince."

"real?!"

"Where did you hear the news, Brother Li?"

Yale has such good ears, he has heard a few people muttering nonsense for a long time, at first he thought they were the gentlemen invited by the second young lady to teach Meng Xue, so he didn't say much, but now seeing that their words became more and more "outrageous", he had to cough exaggeratedly, "Cough! It's cold, gentlemen, do you want to wear a furnace?"

Li Xiucai hurriedly took the lead and said politely, "No need, thank you steward..."

They were talking, when Yale suddenly looked to the south, raised his arm and made a silent gesture, then shook the rein, rushed to Mu Zhiqing's side in a few steps, cupped his hands and said: "My lord, there is something wrong with the front side, Could it be that someone robbed the Tao?"

Mu Zhiqing wondered: "There are bandits near Yingtian Mansion?"

"The subordinates think that it is better to be careful."

Yale then ordered the guards to protect the second lady and several gentlemen to hide under the mound beside the road, while he got off his horse and walked towards the place where the shadows were gathering quietly.

After a while, he returned and said: "Young Master, there are indeed 70 people lying in the bushes, each armed with knives, guns, bows and crossbows. It seems that they are not officers and soldiers in their clothes, and there is no banner."

(End of this chapter)