Chapter 271: Queen Mother Zhou's Conditions
Inside the Nanjing Palace, Princess Kunxing sat in the attic of the palace drinking tea. The female guards stood beside her. Kunxing asked, "How many days has it been? What have they been doing?"
"I heard that Lord Li was dismissed from his post and the emperor ordered him to go home and reflect on his mistakes. The new commander is surnamed Chang, and I heard that he is a descendant of King Kaiping!" said the female guard.
"The descendants of Prince Kaiping work for the Imperial Guard? This is not in line with the court rules! They are probably distant relatives!" Princess Kunxing said.
"The princess is right!" said the female guard.
Outside the palace, a man wearing a Feiyu uniform, the uniform of a third-rank commander, was reprimanding several captains. It had been three days. These Jinyiwei hadn't even taken over the palace, leaving him with no explanation to the court. It also showed that Chang Qing was too incompetent!
In fact, it was not that he was incompetent. This Chang Qing had been on the battlefield and had made meritorious deeds, killing hundreds of elite bandits in front of the battle line.
And because he is a distant relative of the Prince of Kaiping, he was promoted even faster. But the emperor issued an order to remove Li Zichu's official hat. Could the Jinyiwei be under his command? What a joke! The funds for the activities all came from the palace, and now they were asked to attack the palace. So everyone worked but did not put in any effort, just hanging around there. When you order them to attack, they say that the palace has high walls and a large courtyard, and it is difficult to attack. A forced attack will cause the brothers to suffer heavy losses! Even if they are forced with a knife, they will simply bang their heads against the wall, hurt themselves, and then ask to go back for treatment.
Chang Qing knew that these people did not dare to offend the palace, nor did they want to offend the palace. So he simply asked a few trusted thousand households and hundred households to call their own family servants to attack Prince Li's palace.
Those guys are not stupid, it is absolutely not possible to let only their own servants participate.
A captain said, "Sir! I think this number of servants is not enough! I want to ask some of the servants in the homes of the masters in the court to help. Otherwise, we will be alone!"
The Changqing Chang Lord immediately understood what was going on. He meant that if something went wrong, they had to work together. It couldn't just be the Jinyiwei who had to contribute. Those who wanted to attack the palace had to contribute as well. If something went wrong, the Jinyiwei couldn't just be the only one to bear the brunt of the punishment.
So he nodded and told the captain to do it immediately. Many civil officials were unwilling to get involved in this matter and strictly forbade their servants from leaving the house. Even if they had to go out, they would stay away. Only a few big bosses behind the scenes simply fired all the servants and let them return to freedom. This way, they could go wherever they wanted and no one would care if anything happened to them. What a cowardly attitude!
So the captain finally gathered enough people and organized a thousand people to start the attack.
Princess Kunxing sat there and noticed that the Jinyiwei had started to cut down trees. She said to the female guard beside her, "Go! Tell Mao Jiu that anyone who dares to rush through the palace gate will be killed without mercy!"
Princess Kunxing's voice was icy, and the female guard immediately left to pass on the message. A moment later, they heard bursts of gunfire. Looking through the telescope, they saw a scene of dead and wounded in front of the palace gate.
"What? She actually dared to order the shooting!" Queen Mother Zhou in the palace asked in surprise.
"Yes, I heard that there are countless gunpowder guns in the palace, and it can be easily captured!" said Wang Erxi.
"Let the new army go! We must take Prince Li's mansion!" Empress Dowager Zhou said firmly.
"I dare to advise the Queen Mother! The life and death of Prince Li is unknown, and he has made great contributions to the country. Moreover, he has not been convicted yet, so I am afraid it is impossible to stop the people from talking nonsense!" Wang Erxi said.
After hearing this, Empress Dowager Zhou calmed down a bit. She paced back and forth in the Cining Palace, thought for a moment, and then said, "Have them withdraw! Let Kunxing enter the palace. I have something to say to her."
"Empress Dowager! Can this princess obey your order?" Wang Erxi asked in embarrassment.
"She understands what I mean! Go ahead!" said Queen Mother Zhou.
"I obey your order!" Wang Erxi left the hall and turned around to convey the order.
Inside the palace, Princess Zhaoren asked doubtfully, "Now that Mother has asked you to enter the palace, Sister! You can't go! Wouldn't that be like walking into a tiger's mouth?"
"The troops have withdrawn. I guess the Queen Mother wants to talk to us! If she wants to attack us, it's just a matter of a word. We can't hold on for long! She is afraid of the gossips of the world, so she has figured it out. It's nothing more than asking us to hand over our military and financial power." Princess Kunxing said.
"I can't hand any of them over! Without military power, who will protect those profitable businesses? Without money, how can I afford to support the army?" Princess Zhaoren said. Now she understands things better, and Princess Kunxing takes care of all the big and small matters at home. Kou Baimen is pregnant and can't do anything.
"I can give you the military power, but I can't give you the financial power!" said Princess Kunxing.
"Why?" asked Princess Zhaoren.
"Because I don't know how my husband makes money. He is the only one who has the means and knows how to do it! So they can't take away the financial power even if they want to!" Princess Kunxing said.
"What? You don't even know where your brother-in-law's things come from!" Princess Zhaoren asked in disbelief.
"Have you ever carefully looked at the things he gave us? How many of them can be made by the Ming Dynasty? He told me that those are from South Australia. He is the only one who knows the supply channels, so no one can take away the wealth." Princess Kunxing did not want to tell Zhaoren the secret that Zhao Xiaofei had told her.
"If we hand over the military power, we will lose everything!" said Princess Zhaoren.
"We can only pray that our husband can return safely! As long as he comes back, the imperial edict will be useless, and the military power will naturally come back! Even if Gao Jie, Huang Degong and others completely surrender to the palace, the 100,000 White Rod Army in Sichuan and the remaining Kenan Army will not listen to the court!" Princess Kunxing said.
"But it's been so many days? There's still no news from my brother-in-law! I'm so anxious! So scared! Sister!" Princess Zhaoren was about to cry as she spoke.
Princess Kunxing couldn't understand why her sister was so fragile. She was always crying! But who could she go to cry to?
Princess Kunxing changed into a princess's dress and entered the palace, coming to the Cining Palace.
"Your son pays homage to the Queen Mother! May your Majesty be blessed with good health!" Princess Kunxing saluted.
"Get up! I, your queen mother, can't stand it! You even beat the Jinyiwei. Are you planning to surround the palace with all your soldiers?" Queen Mother Zhou said lazily in a low voice.
"I have married into the Zhao family and am their daughter-in-law. Of course, I have to consider the Zhao family! Mother! My husband's life or death is unknown now, and the court is about to raid the palace. As their daughter-in-law, I certainly cannot sit and wait for death!" Princess Kunxing said.
"Who said it was a house search? It was an investigation into illegal activities! They were looking for evidence!" Empress Dowager Zhou suddenly raised her voice.
"What's the difference between this and confiscating property? It's just a different way of saying it! My mother just wants the royal palace to hand over the military power! Without my husband, we can't be the female generals of the Yang family. I can't be Mu Guiying! The military power must naturally be returned to the court!" Princess Kunxing said.
"The military power has been handed over, but the court does not have the money to support so many troops. The most profitable business in the world is in your family!" said Queen Mother Zhou.
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