The sudden turn of events caught everyone off guard. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Seeing that the Chihe Battalion, the Zhenwu Battalion, and the Jichuan Battalion were all about to withdraw, and a crisis was about to be eliminated, and the next step was to enter the stage of "talking about catties" (Jiangsu dialect, talking about conditions and bargaining), but the Shenji Battalion suddenly came over, and the atmosphere became tense again.

An old man wearing a unicorn robe with a white face and beard took a soft sedan chair to the center of the square surrounded by the Shenji Battalion, got off the sedan chair, looked around, and finally locked the direction where Xia Nan was, and said sharply: "These are the people, take them down, and the rebels will be killed on the spot!" ”

Xia Nan was stunned at first, and then furious. This beardless old guy seems to be the big boss hiding behind the scenes-Chang Kun, the eunuch who guards the town. If Niu Dusi at the gate of the city said that there was no behind-the-scenes instruction from the eunuch Chang, Xia Nan would not believe it. It seems that he doesn't pay attention to the rules of the official face, he was not blocked outside the city, and swaggered into the city, this dead eunuch couldn't sit still, and jumped to the stage in person to do it.

His guess was correct, the two times before the Qiong navy crossed the river and after the triumph were all directed by Chang Kun. The reason is also very simple, it is as speculated by Xia Nan and Sima De and others, for the sake of Suzhou's raw silk of several million taels of silver.

Chang Kun was not a popular eunuch in the palace, no matter his connections and qualifications, he was very mediocre, and he was not qualified to study in the inner study, but later because he took the path of Cao Huachun, the chief eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch, he exchanged his life savings for the throne of the eunuch in Nanjing, in his case, this is the pinnacle of his eunuch career. In order to make up for the investment in the early stage, after arriving in Nanjing, he worked hard to make money, regardless of whether he looked ugly. Intervening in Suzhou's raw silk business is an important means for him to make money, but he didn't expect to be destroyed by Xia Nan, who came out halfway, and since then he has monopolized the entire export of raw silk, completely cutting off the possibility of him getting involved in this industry. Since then, the eunuch Chang, who has always been eager to repay him, regards Xia Nan as a sworn enemy.

However, Xia Nan was a general in Guangdong at that time, and Chang Kun's sphere of influence was limited to Nanjing, and he was beyond the reach of the Guangdong whip, but he had been paying attention to Xia Nan's every move, until Xia Nan expelled the Japanese in Jiangnan and became famous, and was sent to Anhui to suppress the Kou, and he was bound to pass through Nanjing, and he felt that his opportunity for revenge had come.

He instructed the defenders of the city gate to refuse the entry of the Qiong navy into the city for various reasons, and did everything in his power to humiliate the other party, just to disgust the other party, if he could provoke the other party and make some trouble on the spur of the moment, it would be even better. Unexpectedly, Xia Nan not only took the bait, but also led the army to forcibly enter the city, endangering the palace, giving him the best reason and making him overjoyed. As soon as he learned the news, he summoned the Shenji Battalion, ordered all the soldiers and horses, and rushed straight to Hongwumen.

The reason why the Shenji Battalion was summoned instead of the Chihe Battalion and the Zhenwu Battalion was because the Shenji Battalion had a closer relationship with him and was more comfortable to command. The Chihe battalion is mainly responsible for guarding the mausoleum, and the Zhenwu battalion is to select the sharp soldiers of the battalions in Nanjing and the Ding Zhuang of Huai'an Mansion and Yangzhou Mansion to fill the position, and the personnel are complex, and the mobilization is not so handy, and whenever there is a turmoil that endangers Nanjing, the Nanjing garrison and the military department have the right to transfer, and there is a possibility of order conflict. However, the supply and replenishment of equipment in the Shenji Battalion largely depended on the War Bureau, and the War Bureau, as one of the twenty-four government offices of the eunuchs, was directly managed by the eunuchs, so the relationship between the two was naturally very close.

Wang Xun and Xu Hongji saw Chang Kun suddenly appear to play the role of a-stirring stick, and they were so angry that they wanted to scold their mother. Originally, everyone spoke well, and it seemed that this imminent crisis was about to be resolved, but the appearance of Chang Kun and the Shenji Battalion pushed things back to the original track.

Wang Xun walked over and said softly to Chang Kun: "Father-in-law Chang, the two sides have already talked about it, everyone takes a step back, and the big things are bad and the small things are small." If you insist on doing it, I'm afraid it won't end well......"

Chang Kun replied with "righteous words": "Lord Wang's words are wrong, how can such a madman who trespasses on the forbidden land of the palace be easily let go?" Our family is a person who can't rub sand in his eyes, this kind of thing either don't let our family run into it, as long as it does, it has to be managed! If Lord Wang has any troubles, he will leave it to our family. ”

Wang Xun scolded his mother in his heart, what have you done on weekdays except for making money? Now pretending to be loyal ministers, it seems that we are a corpse vegetarian meal. But the other party said it in a high-sounding manner, and he didn't talk to himself about the unspoken rules of officialdom, so he didn't have a problem with him for a while.

Xu Hongji also came over, dismounted beside the two of them, and persuaded: "Father-in-law Chang, endure the calm for a while, take a step back and open the sky, why bother with this stunned young man?" The Shenji Battalion is full of firearms, if you inadvertently damage the Forbidden City behind, you and I can't afford this responsibility! ”

Chang Kun just wanted to take advantage of Xia Nan's crime of forcibly entering the city and breaking into the palace without permission, taking advantage of his illness to kill him, and proclaiming personal vendettas, how could he listen to two words of persuasion and stop drowsing. He puffed out his eyes, stretched out his hand, and said loudly: "Long live the Lord sent our family to Nanjing to guard, it is a trust in our family, and it cannot be disappointed." Lord Wang and Wei Guogong don't need to persuade again, if you don't want to help, just watch the Shenji battalion capture this guy and send it to the capital to ask for guilt. ”

The persuasion failed, and Wang Xun and Xu Hongji returned to the southern formation. They were embarrassed now, and they were unwilling to make a move, lest they be drawn into this senseless conflict, and they couldn't leave on their own, so as not to tell the truth, so they had to continue to take a few dozen steps back, staring blankly at the new round of confrontation between the Shenji Battalion and the Qiong Navy.

Chang Kun stretched out his finger with excitement and pointed at Xia Nan from afar: "Traitor, just tie your hands obediently, lest our family do it." ”

Xia Nan replied disdainfully: "The mantis arm is a car, and it is not self-sufficient!" Who gave you such courage? ”

Chang Kun was furious when he heard this, and ordered the general of the Shenji Battalion: "Let everyone fire!" ”

The general hesitated: "Father-in-law, there are more people on the other side than us, and their bird guns look much more powerful than ours!" ”

Chang Kun was furious: "Don't grow the ambition of others and destroy your own prestige." We are a dignified Jingying, they are just a group of rich people in the countryside, is it possible that they really dare to do something with Jingying? It's just a bluff. ”

The general was helpless and gave the order to go down, and all the bird-gunned soldiers were ready to shoot and reload.

The soldiers of the Joan Navy looked at the loading of ammunition at the Shenji Battalion opposite, and their hearts began to become anxious, and the knuckles of the fingers holding the rifles turned white with the exertion - no one knew better than them how lethal a shot could be at such a distance, and it was their turn to face this pressure when their opponents had endured their dense rows of guns before. They couldn't help but look at the Chinese army, hoping to see the order to shoot in order to strike first.