Episode 182: Seizing the Power Vacuum

Until the sound of the plane above my head disappeared for a long time, a group of officials and soldiers next to the train were still looking up blankly, as if they were still very uncomfortable.

It took a long time before an official said:

"Your Majesty...where are you going?"

Mu Hu immediately reacted, waved his hand and called a subordinate officer, and ordered:

"Debao, you will lead your brothers to run to the Beijing Airport in the eastern suburbs of Changping County immediately to see if the emperor was flying away just now! If yes, ask the people at the airport, where is the emperor going! If not, protect the carriage on the spot!"

"Yeah!"

The company commander immediately summoned a company soldier and ran away in the darkness.

Then, Mu Hu turned around and asked loudly to the officials:

"Sir, does anyone know which carriage has a radio station?"

The officials were stunned for a moment, and one of them said:

"This... as far as I know, only the emperor's armored carriage has a radio station."

"Okay, come on!" Mu Hu slapped his palm twice and ordered, "Break open the door of the armored train!"

Several officials shouted:

"Mu Hu, you are so bold!"

"You are presumptuous!"

"Do you want to rebel?"

Mu Hu sneered and continued:

"The safety of the emperor is unknown now. We have so many guards, but we are trapped on this railway line and have no choice but to contact us. I thought about the safety of the emperor, and I had to act with authority. You guys dare to stop him, and they said I want to rebel! I think you want to rebel! What's your intention!... Why, my words are useless? Do what you do!"

The soldiers under his command also replied:

"Yeah!"

Then he rushed forward, hammer, crowbar, bayonet, butt stock, "ping-ping-pong" for a long time, and the armored door remained motionless.

Mu Hu was anxious. He needed a radio station now. He was almost certain that Guangwu had fled, and the Qing Dynasty was in a state of being headless. And it was the first time, and Beijing and even the whole country did not know. At this time, whoever could seize the opportunity to make arrangements according to his own ideas can say that anyone could write a note in history. Every second now is more precious than gold.

Now in the capital, some people want to support the original Emperor Jiade to the throne, some want to support the new Emperor ascend the throne, some want to become independent, some want to surrender to the Ming army, some want to engage in separatism, and some want to become a republic... And Mu Hu belongs to the category of "subsiding the Ming army with conditions". He must now quickly contact his own forces in Beijing, and then return to Beijing to control the situation. Next, let the Ming army reassure the future ethnic policy before we can welcome the Ming army into Beijing.

Mu Hu was anxious to see his subordinates knocking on the armored door in vain. Moreover, he knew that most of the officials present were pretending to be stupid. Except for a few who really didn't understand, most of the others should have guessed the same as him. However, they were still afraid of "if" and afraid that if the emperor came back, they would suffer if they were not good now. The fear that had been shrouded in decades would not disappear in this moment. There was also a considerable inertial force.

He thought to himself that he had to take a gamble now. Although this "if" is also intimidating to him, wasn't he still preparing to assassinate Guangwu before? Now he thinks that the assassination has been successful, and what he should do next. Now the chance of winning is always much greater.

At this moment, the company's imperial guards sent out had run back panting. The company commander said unhurriedly:

"Master... Sir, the emperor is... right on that plane... the airport is... almost gone, and the remaining few have admitted..."

Mu Hu suddenly felt his blood boiling. He jumped onto the roadbed, pulled out his pistol, shot it in the sky, and shouted:

"Listen, brothers, the emperor has already flew out to exile! Now the Qing Dynasty has reached the most critical moment! As the saying goes, "There is no tiger in the mountains, and monkeys are called kings!" Now many military leaders and royal princes are ready to move, thinking in a daze! They are all like they have a few soldiers in their hands, either separating and independent, or bargaining with the Ming army! Our Qing Dynasty will fall into troubled times if you accidentally!

"The troops that can control Beijing now are our Imperial Guards! Prince Shun, the commander of the Imperial Guards, has also gone into exile with the emperor. As the deputy commander, I have no choice at this critical moment! I announce that I will take over all the powers of the Imperial Guards from this moment on, and command the Imperial Guards with all authority! I announce that Beijing is now in a state of emergency and establish a temporary military management committee, and I serve as the chairman! Anyone, no matter whether he is a prince or a minister, whether he is a civil or a military general, must obey the arrangements of the Military Control Commission from now on! Anyone who dares to support his troops and rob the troops will be killed without mercy!

"Brothers, we are all bannermen and have a lot of feelings for our Qing Dynasty. But now there is no need to hide the fact that the Qing Dynasty cannot hold on. Although we are bannermen, we have to say with our conscience, it is indeed time to change the times! But the Qing Dynasty has disappeared, and our bannermen will live for generations! The court in the south has made it clear that this war is not up to the Qing Dynasty, and it will not be difficult for our bannermen in the future. But people say that we have to work together and hold Beijing firmly in our hands, so that we can only negotiate conditions with others and fight for more for our bannermen! If we have not come yet, we will fight to pieces first, and we will have to be cleaned up by others. They look down on us at all, and we can't fight!

"Okay, brothers, how do I usually take you? My brothers are also like a mirror in my heart. At this critical moment, I will say these few words. Who agrees with me? Who opposes?"

The surroundings were quiet for several seconds. The soldiers seemed to be unable to accept such a big change for a while.

Mu Hu took a deep breath and said:

"Okay, it seems that I didn't understand what I said. Let's put it this way, now the situation is: the emperor ran away, the Qing Dynasty was destroyed, and there were Ming troops four or hundreds of miles away. I just wanted to be a Ming people, so I could go home now, but then you are a commoner. Not only are you a great Ming people, but you still want to be a superior person in the future. You stay here and listen to my orders. We have to show our abilities before others come, so I can bargain with you for you. In the future, in addition to the Ming passport, you can also get a job as a half-official. How about it, do you understand? Who agrees? Who opposes?"

Hundreds of guards suddenly burst into cheers like tides, all shouting "Agree! Agree!"

Mu Hu's heart was beating wildly, and he patiently felt ecstasy, turned around and said to the stunned officials:

"Sir, you have heard what I said just now. How about it? Who agrees? Who opposes? Are you willing to cooperate?"

A large group of officials looked at each other, and no one dared to speak out. Suddenly, one of them shouted angrily:

"Mu Hu! You are also worthy of calling yourself a bannerman! You eat the Qing Dynasty and use the Qing Dynasty, but in the end you are a ungrateful wolf! You are just a traitor..."

Mu Hu raised his hand and shot him. Before the official's word "thief" came out, he fell down with blood.

All the officials were immediately frightened.

Mu Hu asked again with a smile:

"Sir, who agrees? Who opposes?"

In an instant, all the officials shouted loudly:

"We agree! We agree!"

"Okay!" Mu Hu ordered, "explode the door of the armored carriage!"

With a command, the two soldiers went up to separate the joint between the armored carriage and the attendant carriage, and then the locomotive at the end of the train moved backwards, giving enough space between the armored carriage and the adjacent carriage.

A soldier hung a grenade at the door lock of the armored door, and then everyone retreated. The soldier pulled the strings and then rolled on the spot and pulled down the roadbed.

With a loud bang, thick smoke rolled. When the smoke dissipated, the door of the armored carriage had been blown open.

Mu Hu was the first to jump up and saw the radio station at first sight. This is a fixed radio station on an armored vehicle, with large size and strong power. If it were a portable radio station, it would probably have been taken away by Guangwu.

He was ecstatic and ordered:

"Stay behind the Second Camp and guard the Beijing Airport! Other brothers, come back to Beijing with me! Dear masters, please get in the car too!"

With a command, the imperial guards of a battalion carried guns and ran towards the capital airport. The remaining two imperial guards of the battalion drove all the officials into the train, and then, led by Mu Hu, boarded the train again and fought back to Beijing.

...

The train drove very fast along the way. On the way, Mu Hu used the radio station to send orders to Beijing. Several of his confidants knew the situation. Now that the Mu Hu people have not returned to Beijing, the imperial guards below have begun to take action.

First, one of Mu Hu's adjutants led people to the residence of another deputy commander of the Imperial Guards, and without saying a word, he shot him to death. In this way, Mu Hu became the only commander of the Imperial Guards, and no one could come out to compete with him for control of the Imperial Guards.

At the same time, several other guards rushed into the "Qing Dynasty Radio Station" and the Telephone and Telephone Bureau, and controlled these two places. The two most important places were always the agents of the Adhesive Pole Office, but the Imperial Guards were responsible for the protection. Now the Imperial Guards defended there have also become occupiers, and some of the Adhesive Pole Office agents in the Radio Station and Telephone Bureau were also taken down on the spot.

It was already seven o'clock in the evening, and Mu Hu's train just returned to Beijing. He left a platoon of people, locked the officials on the train on the spot, and ordered them to detain until tomorrow morning. Then he led the remaining more than 100 people to requisition several trucks from the railway station, rushed into the city, and returned to the Imperial Guard Command.

Now, as soon as he returned to the middle of his troops, Mu Hu suddenly felt like he was entering the sea. He immediately ordered all gates of Beijing City to be closed, and no one was allowed to enter and exit alone, and to send double forces on the city wall.

This is equivalent to basically controlling Beijing from the periphery. Now, it is time to perform detailed operations.

Mu Hu passed the order that all officers above the Imperial Guards immediately went to the headquarters to report.

The Imperial Guard has a total of five divisions, usually four divisions stationed outside the city, and one division stationed inside the city, and it rotates regularly. Now, most of the officers and soldiers of this division in the city don’t know what’s going on, but they have already smelled an abnormal smell and are guessing something. And the four divisions stationed outside the city haven’t even smelled the smell.

Now with a command, within half an hour, dozens of battalions and above officers from the five divisions inside and outside the city gathered in the yard of the city headquarters.

Mu Hu stood on the steps in front of the office building and said loudly the previous words again. Moreover, his focus was: The emperor ran away, the Qing Dynasty was actually gone, and now it is in a short period of power vacuum. Now the news is not known by the princes and ministers, but we know it first. Therefore, now we must seize the opportunity to become the masters of Beijing, bargain with the Ming army, and find a way out for ourselves after the change of dynasty, so that we will not be poor and poor in the family for the rest of our lives. The most important thing now is that the brothers of our Imperial Guards must be united and not become a mess. Otherwise, those royal princes want to be independent, so how can they be our turn?

After some lectures, it actually had an unexpected effect. Many young subordinate officers were immediately dizzy and excited. They wanted to support Mu Hu as the emperor and put on a yellow robe. Several of them wanted to shout "Long Live" to Mu Hu.

And those division commanders seemed very worried. Mu Hu knew that they were mainly afraid of lying and wanted to engage in a coup, and used the excuse that the emperor had run away and wanted to pull everyone into the water.

"I dare not ask for the opportunity to come to my door, okay!" Mu Hu waved his hand and made a quick decision, "If you are afraid, don't be a teacher. Take off your epaulette, hand over your ID and wear a gun, I will officially remove you now."

The five commanders were still dumbfounded, and Mu Hu pointed out five of the most active, excited and ready-to-eat people from the dozen commanders below, like lightning. He promoted these five commanders to commanders on the spot.

Now, the entire Imperial Guard has simply changed its blood and can be used with confidence.

...

The Imperial Guard Command has now become a coup command, or a temporary military control committee. After Guangwu's "tiger" escaped, Mu Hu seized the opportunity and became the first "monkey king".

The officers and civilians of the headquarters all attracted emergency overtime from their homes. Now this place has become a busy hive. The phone rings ring one after another, the telegram button "Didi" hits, the communication soldiers also grabbed the radio microphone, and called and contacted the two of them...

Mu Hu became the core and soul of all this. He walked proudly and dictated one command after another in the noise:

——Abuse all officials of the Adhesive Rod and seal all files from the Adhesive Rod;

—— Surround the palace, search for relatives whom Emperor Xun Guangwu may have left behind, and appease the concubines in the harem;

——Chabind the residences of all princes, royal families, nobles and nobles, and no one is allowed to enter and exit, and they are not allowed to communicate with each other, including Prince Gong;

——Rescue the late emperor of Yingtai, welcome to the Imperial Guard Command (rather than the Imperial Palace), and send heavy troops to defend it;

——In the name of the late emperor Jiade, he planned to control the Eight Banners Legion outside Beijing;

...
Chapter completed!