Inside the Kunning Palace in the capital city.
Empress Dowager Su Wan'er, dressed in a bright red phoenix robe, stared at the top-secret letter in her hand, written by the mighty General Wu Sanjia, sent from Mozhou City on the front line of Youyun back to the capital. Her eyes were filled with uncertain emotions.
In the letter, Wu Sanjia expressed his loyalty to the current emperor, the young Lingwu Emperor, and to the empress dowager Su Wan'er, who was ruling from behind the curtain.
He also stated that if he could gain the support of the young Emperor Lingwu and Empress Dowager Su, Wu Sanjia was willing to lead 300,000 elite troops stationed in Ying and Mo prefectures to the capital to defend the emperor and kill the treacherous minister Qin Ruhui who had usurped the throne.
Su Wan'er clutched the letter written by Wu Sanjia for a long time before finally asking, "Cai He, this letter from General Wu, sent back to the capital from the front lines;"
"Before this is presented to me, is there anyone else who knows about this matter?"
"Your Majesty, this letter was secretly given to me by General Wu's confidant during a briefing to the court and Prime Minister Qin on the front lines in Mozhou. He asked me to forward it to Your Majesty!"
Cai He, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, replied without hesitation: "Your Majesty, after this old servant handled this letter, no third person knew about it!"
Um!
Su Wan'er nodded solemnly, but she was still somewhat undecided.
In this new imperial court, even though Empress Dowager Su Wan'er has replaced the young Emperor Zhao Lingwu as the de facto ruler, she is still the most vulnerable person in the entire court.
To put it more nicely, she was the Empress Dowager who ruled from behind the curtain.
To put it bluntly, he was nothing more than a puppet supported by the treacherous minister Qin Ruhui, sitting on the throne as a mere mascot.
Since she began ruling from behind the curtain, Empress Dowager Su Wan'er had considered breaking free from Qin Ruhui's control and returning the power of the Great Xin Dynasty to the young Emperor Zhao Lingwu.
Unfortunately, Su Wan'er, a political novice, was no match for the cunning and treacherous minister Qin Ruhui.
Whether it was her order to have her trusted eunuch Cai He secretly recruit Prince Chen Huai'an, who was raising an army to quell the rebellion, or her order to secretly recruit Prince Chen Huai'an, who was raising an army to quell the rebellion;
Or perhaps he could order his brother, Prince Zhongshan Su Muchen, to secretly unite with the three powerful princes of the Daxin region in the Jiangnan area, who were currently unemployed, to recruit soldiers and horses, and then seize the opportunity to march into the capital to defend the emperor.
Afterwards, the matter came to the attention of Prime Minister Qin Ruhui, who controlled the Red-Clad Guards, the intelligence agency of the Great Xin Dynasty.
If it weren't for the lack of a suitable candidate for the new emperor, Qin Ruhui would probably have already made his move against Empress Dowager Su Wan'er and the young Emperor Zhao Lingwu of the Great Xin Dynasty.
The conflict between imperial power and ministerial power in the Great Xin Dynasty had escalated to an irreconcilable point.
It is not hard to see this from the last time when Qin Ruhui, together with officials from the six ministries, pressured Empress Dowager Su Wan'er in the court, forcing her to take out 12 million taels of silver from Prince Zhongshan Su Muchen.
Qin Ruhui and his cronies are preparing to target Empress Dowager Su and the Zhongshan Prince's Mansion behind her.
In just a few days, Wu Sanjia, the commander of the Tiger Army at the Mozhou front, continued to pressure Su Wan'er with a personal letter, demanding five million taels of military pay.
Even if Su Wan'er was foolish, she could still sense the danger involved.
Clearly, Qin Ruhui planned to squeeze all the wealth out of Empress Dowager Su Wan'er and the Prince of Zhongshan's mansion, and then use fabricated events to cause the deaths of Empress Dowager Su Wan'er and the young Emperor Zhao Lingwu.
If it weren't for the sudden attack on Ying and Mo prefectures by Prince Chen Huai'an of Jin on the Youyun battlefield, which put the frontline situation under pressure, Qin Ruhui would probably have already begun planning to have Su Wan'er and her son die.
At this critical moment, Empress Dowager Su Wan'er suddenly received a secret letter from Wu Sanjia, the Grand General of Daxin, who held a large army. He expressed his willingness to lead troops to the capital to rescue the emperor and kill the usurper Qin Ruhui.
To say that Su Wan'er wasn't tempted would be a lie.
But there's no such thing as a free lunch.
Su Wan'er was worried that after killing Qin Ruhui, another traitor, Wu Sanjia, had emerged. How should she deal with this?
In particular, Wu Sanjia clearly stated in the letter that if he wanted to lead his troops into the capital to defend the emperor without anyone noticing, he would need to be granted the right to control all the troops in the country.
So that Wu Sanjia could lead his 300,000 elite troops from Ying and Mo prefectures back to the capital city without any obstacles.
This is exactly what stumped Su Wan'er.
On the one hand, it was because granting Wu Sanjia the military power to control all the troops of the Great Xin Dynasty was not a decision that Su Wan'er alone could make;
On the other hand, if Wu Sanjia, who holds a large army, were to lead 300,000 elite troops into the capital to defend the emperor, then there would be no one in the entire Daxin Dynasty who could rival him.
By then, who can guarantee that Wu Sanjia won't harbor rebellious intentions?
The fates of Empress Dowager Su Wan'er and the young Emperor Zhao Lingwu will also depend on Wu Sanjia's decision.
For a moment, Empress Dowager Su Wan'er was caught in a dilemma, unsure of what to do.
Ultimately, after much deliberation, Su Wan'er decided to keep Wu Sanjia hanging for now.
She whispered her instructions: "Cai He, you personally go to Mozhou City on my behalf, find General Wu, and tell him this..."
......
Inside the Tiger Warriors' New Army camp in Mozhou City.
After General Wu Sanjia's central command tent was occupied by Huang Silang, the Minister of War and an official dispatched by the imperial court to oversee the battle, Wu Sanjia moved to the camp of his deputy, Zhao Kui, to command the battle.
In recent days, the 350,000-strong Longcheng army surrounding the outer city of Mozhou has not launched any large-scale siege operations.
Every day, small scout units were sent out to feign an attack on the city in order to find out the layout of Mozhou City's defenses.
Wu Sanjia remained secluded in the city, instead frequently shifting troops between Ying and Mo prefectures for troop rotation.
This move naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of Huang Silang, the Minister of War who was in charge of supervising the war, and memorials impeaching Wu Sanjia were sent one after another every day.
However, Wu Sanjia remained unmoved.
Even when questioned by the then-Prime Minister Qin Ruhui, Wu Sanjia still brushed it off with the excuse that "a general in the field may disobey orders."
On this day, in the tent of the deputy general of the Tiger Warriors New Army.
The deputy general, Zhao Kui, was getting impatient and asked Wu Sanjia, "General, do you think the Empress Dowager will agree to our demands?"
"The longer this drags on, the more passive we'll become!"
After a pause, Zhao Kui continued, "In the past few days, the activities of the Longcheng rebels outside the city have become much more frequent. If I'm not mistaken, Chen Huai'an is planning to launch a full-scale attack on Mozhou City!"
Upon hearing this, Wu Sanjia smiled calmly and looked at Zhao Kui, saying, "General Zhao, do you think the Empress Dowager has any other choice but to agree to our demands?"
"Unless, she is already prepared to take the young Lingwu Emperor with her to perish with the Great Xin Dynasty!"
Um!
Zhao Kui nodded thoughtfully and said, "The General is right. After all, the power to control the army of the Great Xin Dynasty is not something that the Empress Dowager can decide alone!"
"I just hope this matter can be settled quickly, otherwise it will be difficult for us to withdraw from Mozhou once Chen Huai'an launches a full-scale attack!"
"Report—"
"Reporting to the General, Eunuch Cai He, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, requests an audience—"
Suddenly, a messenger's voice rang out outside the tent.
Inside the tent, Wu Sanjia and Zhao Kui exchanged a glance and laughed simultaneously.
It's truly a case of "speak of the devil, and he appears!"
Wu Sanjia shouted sharply, "Please come in quickly!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com