Chapter 326 Preparing to Return to Beijing
The kneeling officials were stunned when they heard this. At this time, Shi Xiaofan, a former official from the Ministry of Personnel, kowtowed and said, "Empress Dowager! We are all loyal to the Ming Dynasty! Please investigate!"
When the other officials heard this, they all cried out in injustice. They all shouted, "Please, Queen Mother, investigate!"
Empress Dowager Zhou sneered and said, "You are finally loyal to the Ming Dynasty? When the late emperor asked you to borrow money, why didn't you ask for more? Where were you when we needed to show your loyalty? Then the bandits entered the city, put knives to your necks, and you got the money. This is how you are loyal to the Ming Dynasty and are finally loyal to the late emperor."
"Empress Dowager, please understand! We borrowed all this money from everywhere, and now we have lost everything." Shi Xiaofan said crying.
The explanations given by other officials were exactly the same, all of them complaining about being poor.
Queen Mother Zhou took Wang Erxi's whisk and knocked Shi Xiaofan's hat off with a whoosh. Exposing his bald head, Shi Xiaofan felt a chill on his scalp and quickly covered his head with his hands.
Shi Xiaofan was so ashamed that he cried, "Empress Dowager, this is all forced by the Jianlu. They said that if you keep your head, you lose your hair, or if you keep your hair, you lose your head."
Empress Dowager Zhou sneered and said, "Is that so? The Jinyiwei had already passed the information to Nanjing. He didn't force you. There was no order to keep your hair. He just said that if you want to be an official you must shave your head. Look at those people, why don't they shave their heads?"
Facing the questioning of Empress Dowager Zhou, Shi Xiaofan said, "I, I, I..." He didn't say another word for a long time!
Empress Dowager Zhou felt that this fellow was extremely disgusting and hated them the most, so she said to Wang Erxi, "Drag him away and chop him off! Take the other officials away first!"
"Yes!" After receiving the order, Wang Erxi nodded to the Jinyiwei behind him. The Jinyiwei came to Shi Xiaofan like hungry wolves, first stripped off his official uniform, and then dragged him to the river.
"Queen Dowager, spare me! Queen Dowager! Queen Dowager, spare me!" Shi Xiaofan kicked and cried out loudly. The other officials were covered in cold sweat.
Shi Xiaofan's voice grew increasingly distant, and then the sound of a knife severing his neck was heard. With a "plop," Shi Xiaofan's head tumbled off, falling directly into the water.
His limbs were still twitching, and the other officials were trembling with fear.
Wang Erxi waved his hand to the soldiers behind him, and they rushed out like wolves and tigers, arresting all the Ming officials who had come to greet them today.
As his daughter was ill, Wei Zaode did not go out, but stayed at home with his daughter. When he learned what happened to the officials who went to Tongzhou Wharf, he was in a state of panic all day long.
But where can he go now? Even the house has been occupied! Zhou Shuai sits at home every day, and he can see him when he has nothing to do. He can run inside.
After all the officials were arrested, Empress Dowager Zhou set out to return to the capital. All she saw on the road were ruins.
There were hardly any civilians on the road, so she called Wang Erxi over and asked, "What's going on? We can't see any civilians."
Wang Erxi said, "Empress Dowager, right now, almost nine out of ten houses in the capital are empty. You won't see any on the streets."
"How could this happen?" Empress Dowager Zhou felt sad.
"Most of them starved to death, and the rest were either killed or captured by the Jianlu! The remaining elderly, weak, women and children could not lift their hands or carry anything on their shoulders, so they could only wait to starve to death!" said Wang Erxi.
Zhou Tainiu calmed himself down and said, "After returning to the palace, we'll invite some monks and Taoist priests to perform rituals to help the deceased civilians in the capital area attain salvation!"
"Yes, I obey your order." Wang Erxi said.
"Why is it only General Zhou who came to welcome us today? Where are the others?" Queen Mother Zhou asked again.
"I have asked, and Yan Yingyuan is arranging a camp for Gao Jie, Huang Degong and others. Huang Degong and Gao Jie not only have to arrange the camp, but also have to help put out fires and burn corpses in the city. There are quite a few corpses in this city, and if they are not dealt with in time, plague may break out." Wang Erxi said.
"Send some new troops to Huang Degong and let him train me well. Also arrange some people to guard the palace. The palace's garrison must be able to compete with General Zhou." said the Queen Mother Zhou.
Queen Mother Zhou did not understand one thing: fighting power is not gained through training, but through fighting.
When Zhao Xiaofei got the news, he called Zhaoren, Li Sihong, and Shen Yunying together and said, "Now that the capital has been recaptured, I, the Prince Consort, and Prince Li must also go to the capital to pay our respects. Otherwise, the world will think I'm afraid of the Queen Mother! Some people may even accuse me of scheming!"
Zhaoren heard this and said, "We have done nothing wrong and are not afraid of ghosts knocking on our door! My husband has made great contributions to the country. We are not afraid of the Queen Mother. Let's go back!"
"Then how many soldiers and horses should we bring?" Li Sihong's concerns were obviously different from Zhaoren's.
Chen Yunying said, "Twenty thousand people are enough! Looking around the world now, how many can compete with the Kenan Army?"
Zhao Xiaofei smiled and said, "Twenty thousand people is too many. I only need to take 2,000 people. Even if we return to the capital, we will go to Nanjing first and go north with the emperor."
"2,000 people, isn't that too few? The Empress Dowager has new soldiers in Nanjing!" said Li Sihong.
"The Queen Mother wouldn't dare to kill me, a meritorious official, at this time! Killing me would chill the hearts of people all over the world! Besides, she has just offended the Donglin Party and other southern forces. No one will help her." Zhao Xiaofei said confidently.
"Husband, isn't it inappropriate to have so few people?" Li Sihong advised.
"Besides, the emperor is in charge of the government now. I have such a good relationship with the emperor, he will stop me from doing anything. The 60,000 new troops are just decorations to me. The internal guards have infiltrated them long ago." Zhao Xiaofei said.
Speaking of the Internal Guard, it's developing rapidly. Xiao Si had told Zhao Xiaofei last time that Nanjing's Internal Guard now had 386 members. There were 76 grassroots officials and 211 grassroots military attachés. If the new army made any big moves, Zhao Xiaofei would be the first to know.
At this time, inside the Forbidden City in Nanjing, a palace maid came in to report: "Your Majesty, Master Ni! He's here, and he's in the study now!"
"Announce!" Zhu Cijiong said.
Ni Yuanlu walked in, saluted, then stood up and said, "Your Majesty, Prince Li wants to take 2,000 people back to Nanjing! Please approve it!"
"My brother-in-law is back! That's great, it feels like we haven't seen each other for a long time!" Zhu Cijiong didn't even need to call him "I". He jumped up with joy immediately!
"Your Majesty! Prince Li has a huge influence and his subordinates are good at fighting. Even if Prince Li doesn't have that intention, what if his subordinates want Prince Li to wear the yellow robe? Your Majesty, please consider this carefully!" said Ni Yuanlu.
"My dear Ni, you were rescued from the capital by your brother-in-law! Don't you believe in Prince Li either?" Zhu Cijiong asked.
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