Upon hearing Li Qin's words, Gu Deyuan, Bo Wengu, and the others present immediately bowed to Li Qin and said:
"Your Majesty, you entrusted the capital to us, but we didn't watch it carefully enough, and the rebels almost stormed into the Forbidden City."
"I dare not accept the reward."
"A mistake is a mistake, and a merit is a merit; this distinction must be made clearly."
In this incident, those who made mistakes should be punished, and those who contributed should be rewarded.
Li Qin waved his hand and said.
Then he looked at the people in front of him and asked again:
"Who broke into the capital from the outside this time?"
"According to the prisoners' confessions, it was Zhao Shuaizhen, who had been living in the mountains, and his troops."
He had been using his familiarity with the mountain terrain, gained from years of living in Jizhou, to wage guerrilla warfare against us.
I never imagined he would be so audacious as to join forces with traitors in the capital to stage a coup.
Bowen stepped forward, bowed to Li Qin, and then spoke.
Upon hearing Bo Wengu's words, Li Qin gripped his teacup tighter and said:
"It really was him. He's incredibly audacious."
Li Qin turned to look at Bo Wengu in front of him and asked:
Where have they gone now?
"After the failed coup, he did not return to the Yanshan Mountains in the north."
Instead, it ran westward towards the Taihang Mountains.
Bowen stood there and bowed to Li Qin in reply.
"Taihang Mountains?"
Li Qin frowned upon hearing the place name.
It's important to understand that the Taihang Mountains are incredibly vast, stretching from the Yellow River all the way to the capital.
As Zhao Shuaizhen led his men into the Taihang Mountains.
The difficulty of his encirclement and suppression has increased considerably.
In the vast Taihang Mountains, the sheer number of troops, the amount of money and supplies required to encircle and annihilate him, as well as the time spent, would be terrifying.
However, it's also very troublesome to have him constantly causing trouble like this.
Finally, Li Qin decided that after this incident, he would take the time to mobilize a portion of the army to launch a large-scale siege against Zhao Shuaizhen and his followers who had hidden in the Taihang Mountains.
Even if we can't achieve anything, we should still launch a siege.
Otherwise, you can't just leave them completely inactive when they've already stormed into the capital and are approaching the Forbidden City.
After this encirclement and suppression, he also prepared to work with officials around the Taihang Mountains to set up some militia strongholds in the Taihang Mountains to compress and blockade the troops of Zhao Shuai Town inside the Taihang Mountains.
Of course, his primary goal now is to find all the spies in the capital who are working with Zhao Shuaizhen's troops.
Just as Li Qin was discussing things with his trusted advisors.
A young eunuch dressed in eunuch's clothes arrived outside Li Qin's main hall, led by a servant from Li Qin's residence.
The servant then entered Li Qin's main hall and reported to him:
"Your Excellency, a eunuch has come from outside, saying he has important matters to report."
"A eunuch? Let him in."
When Li Qin heard that a eunuch had arrived, he gestured with his finger to let him in.
The moment the eunuch entered and saw Li Qin.
They immediately performed the etiquette he would normally use when meeting the emperor.
He knew very well that the man in front of him was very likely to become the ruler of the Forbidden City in the future.
At that time, all their properties within the Forbidden City will be transferred to him.
So for now, we should behave ourselves and leave a good impression on our future master.
"This servant greets Master."
Li Qin looked at the eunuch from the Forbidden City in front of him, and at his bow and self-address.
He knew that these people were all the emperor's servants, but now this eunuch was treating him like the emperor.
Faced with his overreach, Li Qin offered no rebuttal.
Keep in mind, this is his home, not in front of a crowd outside, so he doesn't need to pretend anymore.
Therefore, Li Qin readily accepted the eunuch's greeting and spoke directly to him:
What brings you here? Is there something you need?
"Your Majesty, I have brought a letter from our ancestors."
As he spoke, he slid down to Li Qin on his knees, held the letter above his head, and handed it to Li Qin.
Li Qin casually accepted the letter.
Listening to the words of the eunuch in front of him, "Ancestor?"
Is this a letter from Xi Ning?
Li Qin then opened the letter, and as he read the message, his expression gradually turned cold.
This was because the report above detailed Emperor Zhu Qizhen's recent movements.
The inscription clearly states that Zhu Qizhen had spoken with a eunuch named Cao Jixiang, whom he had arranged to clean the inner palace.
He became extremely tense and fearful.
I don't know what I'm afraid of every day.
On the day of the rebellion, Emperor Zhu Qizhen unusually stayed in the Imperial Garden and did not go to the palace to rest as usual.
Until the day before his army was to return, a eunuch whom he had placed under the emperor's bed to monitor him reported to him.
It is said that Emperor Zhu Qizhen was very likely also involved in this rebellion.
He then immediately arrested the eunuch named Cao Jixiang.
After being tortured, he confessed that he had received money from Xu Youzhen, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, in order to hand over a note to the Emperor.
Li Qin looked up at the message that Xi Ning had conveyed to him.
He took a deep breath. He really hadn't expected that the emperor Zhu Qizhen, whom he had always looked down on, would actually participate in this rebellion.
How dare he do that?
And then there's Xu Youzhen, who himself has been promoted to the position of Second Grand Secretary.
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