Is it drafty here? Guo Shao looked at the flickering candlelight.
Li Chuyun's red face on his beard was stunned for a moment and said: There is another bedroom inside, and the two sides are locked. Isn't Jingniang at the door in front? Jingniang had been in the army when attacking Hou Shu before, and Li Chuyun also knew her.
After hearing this, Guo Shao opened the wooden door without hesitation and stood at the door to observe the bedroom. Li Chuyun did not say anything, but seeing Guo Shao doing this, his face became more and more nervous.
Turning around, Guo Shaocai took out a roll of white silk from his arms and handed it over: General Li, take a look at this first.
Li Chuyun quickly unfolded the silk and read it under the lamp. His red face seemed to be less red and his eyes were wide open. Li Chuyun could read and write. Ancient people read this kind of text very quickly. After a while, Li Chuyun's eyes were fixed on the signature and seal at the end and he looked at them for a few more times.
Guo Shao was a little nervous when he saw this, but then he thought that even Li Chuyun couldn't tell. The seal was blurry when it was stamped on silk, and it would be strange if someone who had never seen a real seal could see the problem with their naked eyes.
Because privately mobilizing troops was a very serious matter, even the extermination of the entire family was not an exaggeration. Therefore, in order to avoid unnecessary arguments and hesitations, Guo Shao also claimed that it was the Queen's decree to Li Chuyun and other generals.
Li Chuyun glanced at the end for a few seconds and then read it again from the beginning.
At this time, Guo Shao took out another half piece of jade from his pocket: General Li.
Li Chuyun handed the imperial edict back to Guo Shao, and took the half piece of jade. The words engraved on it should be a talisman, but only half of it. Guo Shao said: This is the queen's personal belongings, and I broke open half of it and sent it to you to verify the authenticity of the military secrets in an emergency. This eunuch is called Cao Tai, and he is a close attendant to the queen.
Cao Tai took out his badge and seal and wrote: Cao Tai, the Palace Attendant of the Ministry of Eunuchs.
Li Chuyun looked through his things and said, "Meet Eunuch Cao." Cao Tai also said, "General Li, the Queen will rely on you more in the future for the general who has made great contributions this time. Think about the situation of those who stood with the emperor in the Battle of Gaoping.
Guo Shao was very satisfied with Cao Tai's calm response. After all, he was someone who often dealt with the empress, the mother of the country, and had seen a lot of situations.
As expected, Li Chuyun stood there with a stern face. Guo Shao stretched out his hand and slightly signaled Cao Tai not to speak. Yes, at this critical moment, Li Chuyun probably didn't react immediately, at least he had to give him time to think carefully.
But Guo Shao believed that Li Chuyun could figure it out.
First of all, there was a crisis. The people with ulterior motives in the imperial edict clearly referred to Zhao Kuangyin and others. Li Chuyun was also believed to be related to the death of Zhao San, and he was also Guo Shao's trusted core general. If Guo Shao fell, it would be strange if he could be easily spared.
Zhao Kuangyin was not a very kind person in his daily life, he could only be considered thick-skinned. In history, he immediately slaughtered hundreds of people from the Yan family, the sworn enemy of the Zhao family, after the rebellion; Han Tong and his entire family of men and women were killed by his general Wang Yansheng, which also made Zhao Kuangyin very sad and grief-stricken afterwards. In fact, Wang Yansheng and Han Tong had no hatred at all. On the contrary, Han Tong had great power in the reign of Chai Zongxun and was relied on by Empress Xiaofu, which had a long-term impact on Zhao Kuangyin's strategy layout before the mutiny.
As long as Guo Shao is finished, Li Chuyun will die, and his whole family will die. Isn't it obvious what to do
Secondly, there is a huge temptation. Others may not understand Guo Shao because he never said he had any great ambitions, but people like Li Chuyun understood. After the emperor's death, once the queen came to power, Guo Shao's power and status would be incomparable. At the critical moment, would the few people who stood in Guo Shao's heart be able to ride on the crane and become extremely noble? In this era, what kind of military general is it to be a military general without some pursuit
There was a long silence.
At this moment, Li Chuyun suddenly spoke calmly: During the initial preparations, not too many people should be informed. The fewer people the better. Everyone who knows about it must be completely trustworthy and useful.
Guo Shao was overjoyed when he heard this. He excitedly grabbed Li Chuyun's hand, his eyes shining brightly under the light, and his voice was low but powerful: "General Li, from now on, you and I will be like brothers!"
Li Chuyun hurriedly said: No, no, it will mess up the generations.
Guo Shao and he stared at each other in surprise, and both couldn't help but force a smile.
At this time, Li Chuyun said again: "I suggest that the nephew of the master, Dong Zunxun, should not be brought in to participate in the conspiracy too early. The master saved his mother and was grateful, but gratitude alone is not enough. This man and Gao Huaide are too involved in the aristocratic families."
General Li's words made sense. Besides, Dong Zunxun was only a military commander. He had little prestige in the Hujie Army and could only mobilize a few hundred cavalrymen under his command. It would be in time to pull him in at short notice. Guo Shao nodded and said, "My plan is to only let two military commanders participate in the preparation and deployment phase, one is General Li and the other is Yang Biao. Yang Biao is like General Li. He is my sworn brother who has been with me through thick and thin for many years. Everyone in the world knows that he is trustworthy and brave."
Li Chuyun said: Luo Yanhuan has been my friend for many years and is also a trustworthy person. But at this critical moment, I still have to listen to my lord. Let the three of us make the arrangements first.
Guo Shao heard this and pondered for a moment before deciding: In this case, let's ask Yang Biao to come to General Li's mansion early tomorrow morning to discuss the plan.
He added: "The current garrison situation is very favorable to us. The Second Army, Yang Biao's Army, the Fifth Army, and Li Chuyun's Army are all large-scale armies under the command of the Seventh Command, and are stationed at the Zhuque Gate and Chongming Gate in the south of the inner city. The number of troops that can be mobilized on the spot is 3,500. The remaining troops of the Hujie Army are all in the outer city in the south of the city, avoiding the detour and can directly enter the inner city from the two south gates.
However, the city defense has not been changed for more than half a month, and we are afraid that Wang Pu will find something wrong at a critical moment and change the defense. If the south gate of the inner city is not in our hands, it will delay the opportunity if we take a long detour to enter the city.
Li Chuyun said: We have to be on guard against this. However, the redeployment is usually done on the first and fifteenth day of each month when the armies rotate their guard duty; now that it is neither up nor down, there is usually no temporary redeployment, for fear that Wang Pu will discover the problem.
The current garrison deployment was a temporary assignment made by the army just after returning to Tokyo, and there were many incomplete aspects. Unexpectedly, it was delayed for more than half a month. Guo Shao frowned and said, Wang Pusu has vision and insight, and should be able to find loopholes. I wonder if he is willing to come out and mobilize at this critical moment.
Li Chuyun said: The period of redeployment is usually three days. This kind of temporary redeployment is more difficult to handle than the usual redeployment. It will not be less than three days. Three days is enough for us to take action.
Although Ren Wang Pu is very talented, he did not expect the Queen to issue a secret decree, nor did he expect us to be so bold as to mobilize troops directly. Guo Shao said nervously.
He said solemnly: It is not easy to use the army with only this imperial decree. We also need to forge the troop dispatching order of the Privy Council. At this time, it is a serious crime to use the army without authorization. If there are too many lice, they are not afraid of being bitten, so why should they be afraid of forging one more military order
Guo Shao had a crazy look on his face, his eyes were like torches. I had thought about it before, only the chief and deputy generals of the Imperial Guards Army could verify the military orders of the Privy Council. Once the higher-ups verify and confirm, the commanders and deputy commanders below just have to follow orders, and it has nothing to do with them. Before taking action, unify the opinions of the generals of each army, and then summon the commanders to read out the imperial decree and military orders.
Li Chuyun stroked his beard for a long time and said: Actually, it is not necessary, but of course there is no harm in preparing it.
Guo Shaodao: No need for the Privy Council's order to mobilize troops
Li Chuyun said: My lord, you may not have an accurate estimate of your prestige in the left wing. From the Battle of Qinfeng Huanghua Valley to the Battle of Zhuozhou in the Northern Expedition, the soldiers of the left wing have fought dozens of battles under your command, and every battle has been victorious. Yes, the Central Plains Army has been afraid of the Liao Army for many years; but, my lord beheaded thousands of people in Zhuozhou in one day, and the carts full of Khitan heads were in full view of the public. How did everyone feel when they saw it? In the hearts of the soldiers, my lord has long been a god of war.
Once the lord gives the order, everyone will obey it. Everyone has obeyed the order of one person thousands of times, so they will not doubt it. Do you think ordinary soldiers can think before and after? As soon as they see that it is the lord's order, they immediately believe it in their hearts. They can't understand the military orders of the Privy Council, and they just recognize people.
And who knows the civil servants in the Privy Council? Even if the Privy Council sent a military order and the lord says it is fake, then the military order in the left wing must be fake and it cannot be true because of your order. Unless the emperor comes in person, no one can believe others, and they don't believe the lord.
I think that all the paper stuff is useless. The lord just needs to stand in the military camp, raise the tiger flag, and say that he has received the imperial decree and the secret order of the Privy Council, and then he can mobilize the troops.
Guo Shao pondered over this.
Li Chuyun nodded and said: I can't play with the heads of my whole family and flatter them in front of the lord. He went on to say, there is also the queen. Although she has not appeared for a long time and does not interfere in military affairs, she is actually very famous in the imperial army and respected by the soldiers. In the past few years, people often talked about it. Few people have not heard that the queen loves the reputation of the soldiers. Now that the emperor cannot show up, the queen has an imperial decree and the lord supports her, I really can't think of any reason for ordinary soldiers not to obey.
After hearing this, Guo Shao said: In that case, there is no need to easily produce the forged order from the Privy Council.
That's right. Li Chuyun said, but Han Tong needs to be controlled. If he can't be controlled, he will be surrounded and killed by the Guards. Few middle and lower-level generals recognize this man, but Han Tong may insist on dispatching troops from the right wing of the Longjie Army to stop it. Although he may not be able to dispatch troops, after all, we don't have a real military order from the Privy Council to pass through the Guards. A bloody conflict occurred outside the palace, which is not conducive to stabilizing the situation and is more likely to shake the confidence of senior generals.
Guo Shao nodded and said: "We are fighting internally, so we can only fight when the wind is favorable. If there are too many variables, it will be troublesome to kill our way through."
Li Chuyun said: "We can still win over Gao Huaide. By the way, we can't control the Palace Front Division. They are in the north city and there are garrisons around them. We can't take the initiative to attack. We have to act quickly now. We are sure that the Palace Front Division is not well prepared and can't move in a hurry."