Gao Hongtu's face was ashen as he stared out the window without saying a word.
Jiang Yueguang and Xie Xuelong were like old monks in meditation, staring at the tip of their noses.
"Sir," Gao Hongtu's old servant came in and said, "It's time to go to court."
"No rush, just wait." Gao Hongtu said flatly, "I'll tell you the time in half an hour."
"Yes." The old servant responded respectfully and exited the door.
Jiang Yueguang finally opened his eyes and whispered: "Old Gao Ge, procrastinating like this is not the answer after all."
"Yes, it's better to go to court first." Xie Xuelong said, "I thought that even if the court voted, most officials in the court would choose to support us. Shi Kefa, Lu Zhenfei and the others can't change the sky."
"No." Gao Hongtu said flatly, "There is no room for error in this matter."
After a pause, Gao Hongtu continued: "Until the news of Uncle Chengyi and Wei Guogong reaches us, this matter can only be ignored, otherwise there will be no room for change."
Gao Hongtu's meaning is very simple. If he is not sure of killing with one blow, he would rather postpone the process of establishing a new king. After all, the prince and the king are far away in Xuzhou and cannot reach Nanjing in a short time.
Even the Holy Emperor has been killed, will they still care about letting the Crown Prince or Prince Ding fall into the water?
In a word, the one who finally ascends to the throne of emperor can only be King Yong. It is absolutely impossible for the crown prince and King Ding to ascend the throne. The power of Ming Dynasty can only be in the hands of their scholar-bureaucrats.
Jiang Yueguang frowned and said, "But we can't keep everyone waiting, right?"
"Yes." Jie Xuelong also agreed, "Shi Kefa and Lu Zhenfei have already arrived at the main hall."
"Just let them wait." Gao Hongtu said in a deep voice, "At a time when our family and country are undergoing drastic changes and the world is in chaos, what does waiting for a few hours mean? Just let them wait!"
Jiang Yueguang and He Xuelong could only sit back in their chairs helplessly.
Time passed quietly in the suffocating waiting.
Finally, there was a rush of footsteps outside the duty room.
Immediately, Liu Zhengzong, Zuo Zhongyun of Zuo Chunfang, hurried in, bowed his hands and said: "Master, there are two cabinet elders. Uncle Chengyi sent someone to report that he has completely controlled the Admiral Cao Jiang's office, and the new Governor Yingtian is also the Admiral Cao Jiang.
Jin Xuan was also sent to Admiral Caojiang's office and placed under house arrest."
Jiang Yueguang asked anxiously: "Where are the three thousand cavalry outside the city?"
"Stand still." Liu Zhengzong said, "It seems that the rumors are true. Unless the Holy Lord comes personally, only Jin Xuan can mobilize these three thousand cavalry with the king's order flag."
"Okay!" Gao Hongtu said, "That's half done!"
The three thousand cavalry could not be mobilized, and the four thousand pacesetters in Admiral Cao Jiang's office were controlled by Liu Kongzhao. The success was indeed half done.
Jiang Yueguang said: "Now we are waiting for the news from Wei Guogong. As long as Wei Guogong agrees, we can mobilize the Beijing troops to control Nangong at any time. By then, no one will dare to oppose the establishment of King Yong."
Forced coercion is an old-fashioned method, but it is really useful.
However, half an hour later, when the old servant came in again to report the time, he had not yet received a reply from Wei Guogong Xu Hongji.
Jiang Yueguang said worriedly: "Mr. Gao Ge, will Wei Guogong get together with Shi Kefa, Lu Zhenfei and the others? In this case, the situation will be difficult to get out of."
Gao Hongtu frowned when he heard this.
Jiang Yueguang said that riding a tiger and being unable to dismount was just putting gold on their faces.
If Wei Guogong turns to Shi Kefa's side, the situation will immediately become that Wei Guogong's 20,000 Beijing soldiers will fight against the 4,000 soldiers of the sincere brother Liu Kongzhao.
It is not safe to use the four thousand key soldiers as Jiang's model soldiers.
Because now Jin Xuan is the serious Admiral Cao Jiang.
Sincere uncle Liu Kongzhao, who fucked Admiral Jiang, is a thing of the past.
At this moment, Li Jinglian from the right center of Youchunfang finally entered the straight room.
"Teacher." Li Jinglian gasped and said, "Wei Guogong has gone to court."
"What?" Gao Hongtu, Jiang Yueguang and Jie Xuelong's expressions instantly fell. Does it mean that Wei Guogong Xu Hongji rejected their overtures and decided to support Shi Kefa?
After taking a breath, Li Jinglian continued: "But Wei Guogong asked me to tell my mentor that the Beijing camp listens to the cabinet. As long as the cabinet can reach a consensus, the Beijing camp will firmly support it."
Upon hearing this, the expressions of Gao Hongtu and the others suddenly turned cloudy.
Gao Hongtu couldn't help but lectured: "Yizhou, can you finish what you said in one breath?"
"That's right." Liu Zhengzong said angrily, "You almost suffocated us to death with your breathlessness."
However, Gao Hongtu picked up the beam crown with a hard head on the table and put it on his head solemnly, and then said to Jiang Yueguang, Jie Xuelong, Li Jinglian and others: "Let's go to court!"
…
Admiral Caojiang's office in Nanjing is on the riverside outside Dinghuai Gate.
Admiral Caojiang's Office is in charge of the entire Yangtze River defense. From Anqing and Chizhou to Songjiang Prefecture downstream, nearly a thousand miles of the Yangtze River is under the jurisdiction of Admiral Caojiang's Office, but there are only 4,000 regular soldiers.
In addition to the four thousand regular soldiers, there were also nearly two hundred bird ships.
It is certainly incomparable to the navy of the Zheng family, but it is still a navy that cannot be ignored.
Liu Kongzhao, the sincere uncle, has served as the admiral of Caojiang for many years. The entire deputy general, guerrilla and garrison of the admiral's office, and even the commander-in-chief and the sentinel commander are all his trusted confidants.
Without this confidence, Liu Kongzhao in another time and space would not have had the guts to rush in and make the first contribution.
Liu Kongzhao in this time and space also wanted to support Zhu Yousong, but he was killed by Chongzhen before he could take action. At one time, he was so frightened that he did not dare to leave his house, for fear that Chongzhen would settle the score with him.
But now, Liu Kongzhao has regained his former prestige.
The Holy Emperor has passed away, and no one in the entire Ming Dynasty can control him!
"Come here, bring Jin Xuan to me." Liu Kongzhao said loudly.
When two pacesetters followed the order, they quickly escorted Jin Xuan into the carriage.
Seeing Jin Xuan standing tall, Liu Kongzhao felt very unhappy and cursed: "Jin Xuan, why don't you kneel down when you see this governor? Do you believe that I will chop off your head?"
However, Jin Xuan snorted and scolded with disdain: "On your own? You deserve it!"
Although it was only four words, it aroused Liu Kongzhao's anger immediately.
It's so arrogant. Even the Holy Emperor has passed away. Why are you so awesome to Jiu Qing when you are in trouble?
Before Liu Kongzhao could speak, Jin Xuan said again: "Liu Kongzhao, I would like to advise you. At this time, we can still save you as a young man. If you continue to persist in your stubbornness, you may be in danger of disaster!"
"Jin Xuan!" Liu Kongzhao said angrily, "You are really a stone in the pit, smelly and hard, and you are already on the verge of death. How dare you speak so brazenly and threaten the governor."
Jin Xuan sighed: "It's so pitiful that you are the one who is about to die."
Speaking of this meal, Jin Xuan said again: "Liu Kongzhao, Liu Kongzhao, do you really think that I will be so stupid that you can't see that Wang Zhiren was under your instructions? Do you really think that I will be stupid enough to throw myself into a trap?"
"
"Jin Xuan, don't scare me. This governor is not one to be frightened."
Liu Kongzhao snorted coldly and said: "Even you have become a prisoner of the governor. As for the three thousand cavalry under your command, I'm afraid no one can mobilize them, right? Hahaha."
"It's really pitiful." Jin Xuan shook his head.
"I'm afraid those three thousand cavalry have already killed them."
"What are you talking about?" Liu Kongzhao was angry and frightened.
Because he vaguely felt that Jin Hyun was really not a threat, but serious.
At this moment, Liu Kongzhao suddenly heard a faint rumble in his ears, which sounded like thunder.
Jin Xuan shook his head and said, "Liu Kongzhao, you're done. Now you don't even have a chance to regret it."
Seeing Jin Xuan talking to him in a serious manner, Liu Kongzhao suddenly paused in his heart, right? Could it be that the imperial party also transferred other troops from Xuzhou?
But the problem is that the Holy Emperor has already passed away.
Shouldn’t the imperialist party fall apart in an instant?
While he was thinking about it, Taiping guerrilla Wang Zhiren hurried to the camp.
"Liu Junmen, it's not good!" Wang Zhiren looked like he had seen a ghost and said in panic, "The Holy One is here!"
"Why are you panicking?" Liu Kongzhao said coldly, not hearing clearly what Wang Zhiren was saying, "As long as the governor is here, the sky will not fall. By the way, who did you say arrived just now?"
"Holy, Holy, Holy, Your Majesty." Wang Zhiren was so frightened that he couldn't speak clearly.
"What did you say?" Liu Kongzhao heard it clearly now, and was so shocked that he almost fell to the ground, "Wang Zhiren, what nonsense are you talking about? Your Majesty has already..."
"I'm already dead, right?" A cold voice sounded.
Immediately, a general wearing a phoenix-winged helmet and mountain armor strode in.
After seeing the appearance of this military commander clearly, Liu Kongzhao knelt on the ground with a bang.
"Your Majesty, my lord, my lord, my lord..." Liu Kongzhao kowtowed to Chongzhen repeatedly, unable to think of any resistance in his heart.
In fact, Liu Kongzhao had no chance to resist, because no matter how high his prestige among the officers and soldiers of Admiral Caojiang's office was, it would never be higher than that of the emperor.
What's more, Liu Kongzhao's prestige among the officers and soldiers of Admiral Caojiang's office was not high.
In a word, Liu Kongzhao did not seldom do things like eating empty wages and drinking the blood of soldiers.
Therefore, except for the deputy generals, guerrilla or general commanders, and sentinel commanders who were promoted by Liu Kongzhao, the other more than 3,000 officers and soldiers would not listen to him at all.
Even those lieutenants, guerrillas, commanders, and sentinel commanders would not be able to follow him in rebellion.
So as soon as Chongzhen appeared, the officers and soldiers under Admiral Cao Jiang immediately knelt down without any resistance.
Of course, what needs to be explained is that even resisting is useless. Eight hundred barbarians, more than a thousand fully armed Qinwang scholars, and three thousand cavalry under Jin Xuan are outside the admiral's office.
Others couldn't mobilize these three thousand cavalry, so of course Chongzhen could.
It was also at this time that Liu Kongzhao suddenly realized that this was a trap.
Liu Kongzhao suddenly felt that it was ridiculous that Gao Hongtu, Jiang Yueguang and the others, with their little weight, dared to dream of arm-wrestling with the Holy One. What was even more ridiculous was that he actually believed their deception.