"It is an unforgivable crime to commit treason. What else do you have to say, Governor Yue?" Seeing Li Kui enter first, Li Qiong was the first to show anger. More than ten generals and soldiers in the room who had received the instructions in advance also drew their armor and swords.
However, Li Kui entered the door and ignored the other party, and even ignored the soldiers who drew their swords.
Not only that, he actually stood sideways beside a soldier holding a sword inside the door, holding the sword and standing solemnly, like a guard, motionless, causing everyone in the room to look at Li Qiong again.
Before Li Qiong could say anything, at this moment, another man, who looked tired but also had a noble air of being well-read and well-educated, walked in proudly wearing a bright red official robe.
When he saw the second person coming in, Li Qiong's timid nature was completely revealed. Having been a student for many years and accustomed to seeing officials and dignitaries, he almost instinctively stood up to greet them.
But there was no time for that, as the person in front of her spoke, shocking Li Qiong completely:
"I am a Jinshi in the Zhenghe period. My surname is Lin and my name is Jingmo. I was the magistrate of Shouchun Prefecture in the late Jingkang period and the early Jianyan period. I am currently a Hanlin scholar and in charge of internal affairs... The emperor has issued an oral order. Li Qiong, the commander of the Tokyo Garrison, is to immediately assist Yue Fei, the governor of Jeju, in rectifying the city's defenses and pacifying the people. Then, follow me to the government office in the city to meet the emperor!"
Li Qiong was stunned again, feeling that what happened today was completely absurd!
But seeing the man in front of him standing there proudly, he could not utter a word of rebuttal, because his knowledge and experience told him that this man was a real Hanlin scholar, and was the rumored to be the most trusted scholar Xiao Lin in the emperor's lifetime, so what this man said must be true... Not only that, Yue Fei's sudden absurd behavior also got a completely reasonable explanation.
Everything now makes sense!
Li Qiong was confused and her mind was like a mess. She hesitated for only a moment, then she stood up from her seat under the serious gaze of the visitor, bowed respectfully, and said "I have received your order!"
It is said that after Xiao Linxue's soldiers subdued Li Qiong without bloodshed, when they came on horseback to report, Emperor Zhao and Yue Fei had already arrived in front of the government office in the city and were about to dismount and go in.
Upon hearing the news, Zhao Jiu turned around and said, "Li Kui is only a commander after all. Should Peng Ju take over the city defense first?"
Yue Fei was slightly startled, then he realized that the emperor was not worried about the city defense, but was afraid that he would have troubles when facing Du Chong due to their hometown relationship. But now that things have come to this, how could he care about these things? He immediately shook his head and said, "Good teaching, the emperor knows that Li Qiong is from the provincial school and is a well-behaved person. Now that Scholar Lin has him in his hands, there will be no more trouble."
"Then go and summon all the commanders and above in the army to meet in the city... Can you do it?" Zhao Jiu asked again.
"Yes! And it must be me!" Yue Fei suddenly became serious.
"Then let's go. The military situation is urgent and we should not waste time!" Having said this, Emperor Zhao said no more and led his men directly into the yamen in front of him.
Correspondingly, Yue Fei did not hesitate any more. He just asked Zhang Xian to lead the White Army to surround the county government office and stayed behind to protect Emperor Zhao. Then he immediately got on his horse and rode out of the city alone.
It is true as Yue Fei said, Du Chong has been staying indoors for dozens of days and has lost the support of the soldiers and the people. Officers from various departments have already been talking about it and rumors are spreading. Unfortunately, the various departments are not under the jurisdiction of each other. Hastily summoning all the generals into the city in the name of Du Chong would instead arouse suspicion and chaos.
Then in this situation, the only one who could gain the recognition of Wang Yan's troops and the rest of the Tokyo Garrison was probably Yue Pengju... Especially Wang Yan, who led the Eight Character Army and abandoned his base to march south alone. He was familiar with the place but not the people, and was very isolated. In comparison, although Yue Fei had a personal grudge against him, he knew him well after all, so he would trust him more on major issues.
Putting this matter aside, after Yue Fei left, Zhao Jiu, under the guidance of Zhang Xian and surrounded by soldiers, walked into the county government office of Yanling City with his head held high, and it was unexpectedly smooth... This was not only because Yue Fei sent Zhang Xian and the Tabai Army to follow him, nor was it because Li Qiong's military order was conveyed so quickly, but because there was more than just Du Chong in the government office.
You must know that many of the senior clerks of the Tokyo Liaison Office and the officials of the Kaifeng government are now in the county government office in Yanling County, and among them there are many who recognize the face of Emperor Zhao.
In fact, the officials in the county government office had just seen the streets outside the gate filled with cavalrymen and thought it was a military remonstration, but it turned out that they had just found several leaders in the government office gathered in the main hall. But before they could say a word, Zhao Jiu had already bypassed the screen wall, passed through the front yard, and came to the threshold of the main hall.
At this time, the person leading the hall was Guo Zhongxun, a Jinshi graduate who was in charge of military law in the Tokyo garrison. He only took one look at the newcomer and, as if struck by lightning, he prostrated himself on the ground in panic, shouting "Long live the emperor!", catching the clerks and soldiers in the county government off guard and forcing them to follow suit and bow down.
In fact, Guo Zhongxun was a Jinshi and held a high position. According to the status of civil officials in those days, it was not necessary for the emperor and his subjects to meet suddenly. The reason for this was that he was the prosecutor of the garrison and the second-in-command of the civil officials on this expedition. He knew roughly how bad the bad things Du Chong had done in recent days were, and he also knew that there must be a follow-up to Du Yan's disappearance a few days ago. So when he saw Emperor Zhao, he instinctively guessed the worst situation, but he bowed with a guilty look.
"Where's Du Chong?"
Zhao Jiu didn't know the other person at all, and it was impossible for him to care about the other person's little thoughts, so he stood with his hands behind his back in front of the lobby of the county government office and got straight to the point.
"Maybe he hasn't gotten up yet, or maybe he has gotten up and is drinking in the backyard." Guo Zhongxun, lying on the ground, didn't dare to hide it, but he was extremely nervous. "I usually don't dare to go to the backyard, and I don't know the details... How about I go and invite the deputy governor to come to see the emperor?"
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