***
Runfang Pavilion is located in the northwest corner of the Imperial Garden, hidden by whirling flowers and trees. Although the courtyard is small, it is very elegant. However, due to its remote location, it is usually very deserted, no different from a cold palace.
Dayu'er has been living here all this time. Her status in the palace was just that of a selected maid, only a little higher than the lowest-level maid. In addition, there were countless beauties in the harem, so the emperor seemed to have forgotten her existence.
This time, Dayu'er was overjoyed. The emperor didn't know what to do, so he suddenly ordered her to be responsible for thoroughly investigating the spies in the palace.
Of course, if this matter is done well, there will be some benefits; if it is not done well...
No if!
It must be done well. If you miss this opportunity, you may have to live alone in Runfang Pavilion, which is like a cold palace.
Da Yu'er has been living in the palace since she was 13 years old. She was able to survive and eventually help her son become the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. She relied on more than just her beauty.
She knew that the emperor wanted her to investigate the matter thoroughly. One of the important reasons was that she had no involvement with the forces outside the palace. The Jurchens had basically been wiped off the face of the earth by the Qin Dynasty. Who else could she have any involvement with.
What the emperor wants to investigate is probably just the palace informant in this rebellion.
The Taiyuan Hospital secretly discussed the emperor's condition, and overnight, almost all the high-ranking mansions in Nanjing learned about it. What's this? How could an emperor tolerate such a thing
The emperor wants to be the villain himself!
So why not? Even if it offends all the high-ranking officials, so what? As long as the emperor is satisfied.
Whenever the eunuchs and maids in the palace are willing to serve as spies for foreign ministers, they are most likely to be greedy for huge profits.
Therefore, Dayu'er's first step is to check the money of all the eunuchs and maids in the palace. The monthly rules in the palace have their own fixed numbers. Whoever has more money must be evil, so it would be good to catch them first.
Qin Mu's harem is different from the harems of previous dynasties, which often numbered 20,000 to 30,000 people. The total number of maids and eunuchs in the Great Qin Palace is only 1,300, so it is much easier to check.
Ordinary palace maids and eunuchs do not have separate rooms. There is no back garden to bury money for you. After a thorough search, most of them had nowhere to hide, and a total of 47 people with "huge" wealth of unknown origin were found.
Of course, this move cannot catch all suspects at once. After some people obtained their property, they may have taken it out of the palace for storage, or perhaps given it to their relatives.
Immediately afterwards, Da Yu'er checked who had the opportunity to leave the palace within this month, especially on the day when it was reported that the emperor was ill, who had the opportunity to contact outside the palace. More rigorous investigation is required.
The two-pronged approach resulted in the identification of a total of sixty-four suspects.
After the meeting, Qin Mu returned to Qianqing Palace, and Da Yuer came to report on the progress of the thorough investigation of the inner palace.
Da Yu'er has a plump figure. She has obviously dressed up carefully when she comes to see the emperor this time. After putting on the Da Qin palace attire, she has a more glamorous charm and a mature flavor that is even more sultry.
It's a pity that Qin Mu doesn't have that thought now. He asked calmly: "How is your investigation going?"
"Your Majesty, sixty-four suspects have been identified, but..."
"If you have something to say, just say it and stop hesitating."
"Assassinating the prince is a major crime against the nine clans. Therefore, in order to find out the real culprit who assassinated the prince and the spy in the palace, and to use him for my use, I need your majesty's decree."
Qin Mu didn't say anything. He took off his pen and wrote an imperial edict in person, stamped it with his seal and gave it to Dayu'er.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, slave." Da Yu'er quickly knelt down and took the imperial edict. With this edict for forgiveness of sins. Dayu'er is confident that it will not be difficult to find people with his own methods.
***
Quanjiao County is located in the south of Chuzhou City. It is 100 miles away from Nanjing in the east, 40 miles away from Chuzhou in the north, 200 miles away from Luzhou in the west, and 140 miles away from Ma'anshan in the south.
There are rolling low mountains in the north, undulating hills in the middle, and valley plains in the southwest and southeast. The Chu River flows through the southwest and southeast edges of the county, and is known as the "Jiang-Huai dorsal and ventral" and "Wu-Chu Chongqu".
After Li Guo occupied Quanjiao, he strictly enforced military discipline and opened warehouses to release grain. The trick of opening a warehouse to release grain has been tried and tested many times in troubled times. Opening a warehouse to release grain can often draw tens of thousands of horses at a time.
However, now that the people live and work in peace and contentment and have no worries about food and clothing, how can they follow you in rebellion just for that little food
Seeing that this move didn't work, Li Laiheng became angry and looted, burned down the houses, and destroyed everything, turning the people in Quanjiao into homeless refugees.
At the same time, Li Guo put up the slogan "Qin Mu is dead, Dashun is revived", firstly to confuse people's hearts, and secondly to force the old members of the Dashun Dynasty to rebel.
After repeated efforts, five thousand men and horses were finally gathered. However, Nanjing's response was unexpectedly fast. Yan Yingyuan's 5,000 cavalrymen crossed the river from Yanziji and headed straight for Quanjiao. Ling Zhan's 5,000 men also began to cross the river at Caishiji and head north, obviously to attack Quanjiao. Implement a two-sided attack.
Soldiers and horses from Chuzhou, Luzhou, Hezhou, and Chaoxian County also stepped up their defenses, quickly forming a siege on all sides.
Li Guo, Liang Tao, and Li Laiheng were all generals who had experienced hundreds of battles. They knew that Quan Jiao could not stand still and had to quickly switch to another battle. But where to turn
Liang Tao and Li Laiheng agreed that they should immediately move to Shaanxi. Firstly, Shaanxi is the home base of the Dashun Army. Secondly, if Gao Yigong leads troops from Qinghai and Tibet, they can immediately form a confluence and quickly expand and occupy the northwest corner.
Li Guo said: "It is inevitable to go back to Shaanxi, but how to go back is a problem. It is not difficult for Qin Mu to think of this, and he will definitely try his best to prevent us from returning to Shaanxi. Wuhan, Xiangyang, Luzhou, Fengyang, and Luoyang all have heavy troops. From here we have to go west and north into the Jianghuai Plain. We lack weapons and good horses. We can't get through at all if the enemy is chasing us. "
Li Laiheng thought for a while and nodded: "What my father said is true. It seems that we can only catch them by surprise and attack them unprepared. Qin Mu must think that we are in a hurry to return to Shaanxi. Now their defense focus is on the west and north. Father, from here we go One hundred and forty miles to the south is Ma'anshan. Hei'er suggested that we use elite troops to advance rapidly, cross the Yangtze River at night, and attack Ma'anshan by surprise. "
Ma'anshan can be called one of the heavy industrial bases of Daqin. The steel produced here ranks first in the country. If it is captured, the whole country will be shocked and the momentum will be huge.
Among the 150,000 troops stationed in Gyeonggi Province, 30,000 horses are stationed in Ma'anshan.
But at the same time, there were nearly 50,000 captives mining in Ma'anshan, and these tens of thousands of captives included Jurchens, Mongols, and former anti-Ming soldiers. Most of them could be said to be elite soldiers who had experienced many battles;
Nowadays, these people are being held in the mines and living a life of darkness. They are miserable and have to work hard until they die. If they can make a surprise attack on Ma'anshan and rescue these tens of thousands of prisoners, they can immediately raise an army of 50,000 and obtain Lots of weapons.
Liang Tao said happily after hearing this: "Yes, Ma'anshan has the Yangtze River as a natural barrier, and there are 30,000 troops stationed there. They would never think that we would dare to attack. The more impossible a place seems, the more likely it is that we will be able to surprise and attack it unprepared."
Li Guo nodded and said: "Yan Yingyuan and Ling Zhan are leading elite cavalry and are well-equipped. Once we are bitten by them, it will be difficult for us to escape, let alone cross the river to attack Ma'anshan.
Let's do this. Lao Liang, you will lead a large group of troops and drive the people in the city to immediately withdraw to Longshan in the west, and lead Yan Yingyuan and Ling Zhan's troops to surround the mountain.
I selected one or two thousand strong men, disguised themselves as ordinary people, and went south, looking for an opportunity to cross the river and attack Ma'anshan by surprise. Once successful, your siege will be unstoppable. "
The three of them all know that now that the country is peaceful and the people are safe, not many people are willing to rebel with them. In fact, including them, if they were not framed and forced to do so, why would they take this step
At this point, a surprise attack on Ma'anshan and rescuing tens of thousands of prisoners was their only chance, so Liang Tao had no objection and the matter was decided.
Next, Li Guo personally went to select the best people, and a total of 1,450 people were selected.
After nightfall, Liang Tao led a large group of people and drove nearly 20,000 people to Longshan in the west. It was a mess with noisy people and bursts of crying.
Li Guo took the selected men and women, disguised himself as fleeing people, and quietly headed south under the cover of the dark night.
Can you cross the river quietly? Can a surprise attack on Malle Mountain rescue nearly 50,000 prisoners? Li Guo himself had no idea. Now he could only do his best and obey fate!
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.(To be continued...)
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