Chapter 156 Nanjing Civil War 2

Since Zhao Xiaofei was assassinated by a maid, Xiao Si and Li Zichu began to interrogate the maid. The maid was originally a maid in the home of Zhao Zhilong, the Earl of Xincheng, and her parents were farmers outside Nanjing.

Zhao Zhilong and others were plotting a rebellion, so he sent this maid to apply for a job as a servant in the palace. Furthermore, Zhao Zhilong paid a fortune to get her in. The palace had just been established, and the servants hadn't had time to get to know it. Zhao Xiaofei returned from Wuchang, and the maid took this opportunity to assassinate him.

Meanwhile, outside Nanjing, Zhao Zhilong, Xu Jiujue, and the others were already in the military camp. With the exception of Li Zan, who hadn't escaped, they personally distributed silver to the soldiers, ensuring that every soldier could focus on the battlefield and kill the enemy.

At this time, the morale of the rebels was high, and Zhao Zhilong and Xu Jiujue led their troops to attack Nanjing. The rebels had cannons in their hands and immediately opened fire on the city.

The sound of the cannons frightened the entire city of Nanjing, believing it was an incoming Jianlu invasion. Panic ensued, and the city was in chaos. Furthermore, they had accomplices within the city. Zhao Zhilong and Xu Jiujue hired a gang of thugs, who began looting and smashing. Chaos ensued, with flames shooting into the sky and cries of pain lingering in the air.

The Ming troops originally stationed in the city belonged to the Yingtian Prefecture garrison, numbering just over 20,000 men. Their combat power was essentially intimidating, a mere facade. Empress Dowager Zhou, fearing Zhao Xiaofei would rebel and use the emperor to manipulate the other princes, stationed his troops outside the city walls. No one was allowed to enter without the emperor's order.

Later, Zhu Guobi rebelled, followed by Zhao Zhilong and Xu Jiujue. Empress Dowager Zhou was forced to send the Kenan Army into the city twice to garrison. Now, Wanshan is stationed in the outer city, and Princess Kunxing is stationed in the Imperial City. Empress Dowager Zhou is truly capable, sending a pregnant woman to lead the troops to guard the Imperial City. Perhaps it was to keep her under control! A pregnant woman should pose a relatively low threat to imperial power! To Princess Kunxing, this all embodied the ruthless nature of the imperial family. There was no family affection, only profit, only imperial power!

Wanshan commanded the army to repel the attacks of Zhao Zhilong and Xu Jiujue again and again. Zhao Zhilong and Xu Jiujue failed to succeed, which gave Li Sihong and Kou Baimen time to dispatch troops and deploy battle formations.

After all, the two women had few opportunities to lead troops, and with an army of 60,000 to 70,000, it would take longer to organize them. Just when Wanshan was about to give up, Li Sihong and Kou Baimen finally arrived with their troops. Together with Wanshan, they outflanked the rebels, ultimately reducing the 50,000 to just over 30,000. Zhao Zhilong, Xu Jiujue, Wang Duo, and Cai Yishen were all captured alive.

They were brought to the Meridian Gate, and Princess Kunxing, without a word, ordered the execution of several of them. She hated them. Not only did Zhao Xiaofei not know whether he was alive or dead, but she also didn't know where they were. She was filled with rage, her fury uncontrollable. She wanted to kill all the rebels she saw.

Even when Shi Kefa presented the imperial edict demanding that Princess Kunxing hand over several rebel generals and four traitors to the court for punishment, Princess Kunxing ignored it. Her husband's fate was unknown! Why should she spare them? The bloodshed outside the Meridian Gate, wrought by Princess Kunxing, flowed like a river, and she directly confronted the court.

Zhang Huangyan first impeached Princess Kunxing for disobeying imperial edicts and privately killing a guilty minister. He then ordered her to surrender her military power. Li Sihong and Kou Baimen, of course, refused to do so immediately, insisting they waited until Zhao Xiaofei was safe. However, Princess Kunxing, Zhu Mianzhu, had already grasped the intentions of the court and the empress dowager and firmly refused to surrender. She reasoned that the Prince of Anqing was not dead and had committed no crime, so there was no reason to confiscate her military power without cause. Consequently, Princess Kunxing withdrew from Nanjing with the Kenan Army and stationed them outside the city.

These events had occurred two days earlier, and Princess Kunxing finally felt relieved when Wanshan brought Zhao Xiaofei back. Upon seeing Zhao Xiaofei, she immediately threw herself into his arms. Li Sihong knew Zhao Xiaofei was fine; from the maid's testimony, she knew her husband had gone to Taixu Fairyland. Therefore, only Princess Kunxing and Kou Baimen were deeply worried, while Xiao Si, Wanshan, and Li Sihong were all confident.

"Don't cry, don't cry! You are pregnant, you can't disturb the fetus!" Zhao Xiaofei coaxed.

"Where have you been?" asked Princess Kunxing.

"My husband can perform magic and has escaped from the city. It's okay! It's okay!" Zhao Xiaofei kept coaxing her until she fell asleep in his arms.

Zhao Xiaofei covered Princess Kunxing with a blanket and immediately asked Li Sihong to write a memorial. Zhao Xiaofei said, "This court's honor cannot be denied. Please write a memorial for me, explaining the situation first and then apologizing. Tell the court that I request to be demoted to a duke, and ask the emperor and the empress dowager to approve it!"

Li Sihong nodded and immediately went to help Zhao Xiaofei write the memorial. Kou Baimen came over and asked, "Husband, there's no need for us to do this, right? It's clearly the court that has wronged you!"

"We are subjects, so we must behave like subjects. Besides, we are not rebelling! Is my eldest brother back? What happened to him?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.

"Big brother was stopped on the road by Zhao Zhilong and Xu Jiujue's men, and a fight broke out between big brother's personal guards and the rebels. Big brother's personal guards were few in number, so they had to retreat to Chuzhou! Later, the rebels were destroyed, and those who were stopping them dispersed on their own." Kou Baimen said.

"Call brother back! And tell him that we are fine!" said Zhao Xiaofei.

"Okay!" Kou Baimen said.

Upon hearing the news of his brother's injury, Zhao Xiaokun immediately led his men back. However, before they could cross the river, a group of 1,500 men blocked their way. They charged towards their group, apparently having gathered information beforehand. Zhao Xiaokun's personal guards fought desperately, but were outnumbered, and ultimately retreated to Chuzhou City with only five of them.

After that, other people who reported the news were also intercepted by this group, so Zhao Xiaokun was never brought back. Later, the Kenan Army defeated the rebels, and the group naturally dispersed without a leader.

Zhao Xiaokun returned to Nanjing and went to the palace. Seeing his brother, he asked, "How is he? How is he?"

"It's okay! I'll go back to modern times and get my illness cured!" said Zhao Xiaofei.

"Mom and Qin Baobao don't know, right?" Zhao Xiaokun asked.

"I don't know! I was afraid they would worry, so I called Jiang Xiaomei. She paid my medical expenses. How is Huang Degong?" Zhao Xiaofei said.

"He's fine now! His wound was just inflamed. I performed another operation on him and he's feeling much better after taking the medicine. He's now busy incorporating Liu Liangzuo's army! Liu Liangzuo was also sensible and took the initiative to resign from his official position and went to Hangzhou." Zhao Xiaokun said.

"Huang Degong can be trained well, but you have to take good care of his army's money. If he doesn't obey, we will cut off his food and wages!" said Zhao Xiaofei.

"Huang Degong is loyal to the Ming Dynasty and is a good person! He is a loyal and righteous minister!" said Zhao Xiaokun.

"What are Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing doing now?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.

"Then Gao Jie is still loyal to the Ming Dynasty!" said Zhao Xiaokun.

"Have you seen him?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.

"I've seen it!" said Zhao Xiaokun.

"He will definitely not surrender to the Dashun. He has cheated on Li Zicheng. He will not surrender to anyone who surrenders. But we must be wary of Xu Dingguo. In history, Gao Jie was lured to death by him!" said Zhao Xiaofei.

"Or I can go back and kill Xu Dingguo together with Gao Jie and Huang Degong!" said Zhao Xiaokun.

"Where is Xu Dingguo now?"