"But the Empress Dowager and the Emperor haven't arrived in Nanjing yet!" said Ma Shiying.
"We need to take action before the Empress Dowager and the Emperor arrive. If the Empress Dowager and the Emperor come, they will definitely protect these two people. They saved the Emperor's life! We have dealt with Zhao Xiaokun, and Zhao Xiaofei cannot handle the court alone. He has no foundation in the court, and we will soon take control of the situation!" Zhu Guobi said.
"Isn't this inappropriate? The most important thing right now is to stabilize people's hearts. Using military force to remonstrate with them will be detrimental to stabilizing people's hearts!" said Ma Shiying.
"For the sake of Donglin, military remonstration is only temporary! It's Zhao Xiaokun's fault for wanting to seize my military power and prevent me, the Donglin people, from entering the court!" said Zhu Guobi.
That night, General Zhou came over and said, "Zhu Guobi is planning a military remonstration! He wants to join forces with Zuo Liangyu, Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, and the others to force you to abdicate!"
"Damn it! He is so shameless! I want to stabilize Jiangnan, but he insists on fighting with me. Then we can't let him stay. Send someone to spread the news and say that the court has money. We are going to give your troops travel expenses and transfer them to the front line in Fengyang! Zhu Guobi will definitely come to me for the money, so we will take action now!" said Zhao Xiaokun.
"But what if he doesn't come to you for the money? It's very likely that after hearing this news, he will think that you have no troops here. He will take the opportunity to directly surround the Governor's Mansion!" said General Zhou.
"What should we do? Do you have any ideas?" Zhao Xiaokun asked.
"He was kidnapped before, so it's not easy to assassinate him now! It's better to call him over!" Zhou Shuai said.
"I know what to do. You should take a rest first! Among the women sent by Ma Shiying, you can pick one or two if you like them, and let the servants send the rest to the manor to serve Liu Rushi!" Zhao Xiaokun said.
"Okay! Thank you, boss!" Zhou Shuai left with a happy face. The reason why Zhou Shuai knew Zhu Guobi's plan so quickly was because he met a man when he was fleeing the capital, that was Li Ruolian's son Li Zichu. Li Ruolian died in battle, and he asked his son to leave the capital early. When Li Zichu saw Zhou Shuai's convoy, he clung to the two iron beams under the car and left the capital. Later, he followed Zhou Shuai all the way to Tianjin City. It was not until Prince Ding ascended the throne that he came out to find Zhou Shuai and revealed his identity.
Zhou Shuai felt they needed a Jinyiwei to help them, so he asked Li Zichu to accompany them to Nanjing. Li Zichu believed that Zhao Xiaofei and his brother were loyal to the Ming Dynasty, so he gathered his father's old subordinates in Nanjing to help Zhao Xiaokun gather information.
The restaurant Zhu Guobi and his companions went to was owned by one of their secret agents, and they were discussing something while someone from the Imperial Guard was listening in from the next room.
Zhao Xiaokun immediately went to Zhang's residence to find Zhang Huangyan and told him about Zhu Guobi's plan to use military force to remonstrate with him. Zhang Huangyan asked in surprise, "What? How dare he do such a thing?"
"It's absolutely true! He doesn't have many troops in Nanjing now. I need your transfer order. Let my troops outside the city enter the city!" Zhao Xiaokun said.
"Are you planning to take the initiative and arrest Zhu Guobi?" Zhang Huangyan asked.
"Minister Zhang, the overall situation is more important! Arrest him and put him in jail first! Once the Empress Dowager and the Emperor arrive in Nanjing, we'll let her handle it!" Zhao Xiaokun said. In fact, he hadn't intended for Zhu Guobi to leave his home alive at all, and he had already made preparations.
"Alright! I'll issue the transfer order right away! I wonder how many troops Admiral Zhao has now?" Zhang Huangyan said. He was curious to know just how powerful Zhao Xiaokun was. He also wanted to know if he had the same ambitions as Zhu Guobi.
"Men and horses! They're all from the original local militia! This was the imperial decree from the late emperor, allowing us to organize local militia. Later, when I was in Tianjin, the Empress Dowager asked me to take charge of the defense of Nanjing and the Yangtze River!" Zhao Xiaokun handed the imperial decree organizing the militia to Zhang Huangyan. He was trying to show that his troops had a legitimate source! I'm recruiting soldiers by imperial order!
In reality, he possessed nearly 100,000 troops. All of them had been trained by Fang Xinyu over the past two years! Of course, only 30,000 of them were capable of fighting; the rest could only defend the city. After all, Fang Xinyu was alone, and his financial resources were limited. 100,000 troops were already the Zhao family's current limit. It wasn't just a matter of money; there was also the issue of talent. Cultivating a truly capable army leader from these refugees would indeed take time.
Fang Xinyu had gone to Shizhu to deliver money to Qin Liangyu. Jiangnan was entirely under the care of General Zhou, and of course Zhao Xiaokun had Feng Dunhou, Chen Mingyu, and Yan Yingyuan along to help.
These three men were no longer low-ranking officials; they had all been promoted directly to the fifth rank. They specialized in assisting the Nanjing Governor's Office, allocating resources, transporting supplies, and organizing the construction of the city walls and fortifications. Feng Dunhou was appointed prefect of Yangzhou, Chen Mingyu was appointed prefect of Jiading Prefecture, and Yan Yingyuan was appointed magistrate of Jiangyin County.
Zhang Huangyan glanced at the imperial edicts of the past, and he seemed to remember them. It was just that most local officials at the time didn't take them seriously, and they didn't have the money to train the troops. Of course, even if they had money, they would have to say they didn't have it. Wouldn't it be nice to keep the money in their own pockets?
"How strong is this guy?" Zhang Huangyan asked.
"Anyway, it's stronger than Zhu Guobi's 100,000 troops!" Zhao Xiaokun said confidently.
"Okay! Then arrest Zhu Guobi! You lead the troops into the city tonight, but you must leave the city after dawn!" Zhang Huangyan is not stupid. What if you two brothers lead the troops and don't leave, what will happen to the emperor and the empress dowager?
"I know the rules! Thank you, Minister Zhang, for the reminder!" said Zhao Xiaokun.
At night, several women in Zhu Guobi's house were playing music and dancing. Zhu Guobi was listening with great interest when suddenly a chaotic noise broke out outside, and someone screamed. Zhu Guobi, fearing something was wrong, immediately stood up, pushed the women aside, and went to the front yard.
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