Chapter 145: Troops Surround the Chengtian Gate

The main southern gate of the Imperial City was the Daming Gate, and the central axis running north from the Daming Gate passed through the Chengtian Gate and the Meridian Gate, with the Meridian Gate being the main gate of the Forbidden City.

Along the broad thoroughfare from the Daming Gate to the Chengtian Gate (Tiananmen), the most core government offices of the Great Ming were distributed on both sides, including the Six Ministries, the Censorate, the Hanlin Academy, the Court of the Imperial Clan, the Five Chief Military Commissions, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Office of Transmission, and so on.

Most of the important capital officials of the Great Ming worked in this area, while the Grand Secretariat worked in the Wenyuan Pavilion within the Forbidden City, only a few dozen meters away from the Emperor's Wenhua Hall.

On the Chengtian Gate, a Mobile Corps Commander of the Capital Camps was making his routine patrol as usual. He casually swept his gaze around, nodded inwardly, and prepared to head to the guard room to eat the De Zhuang hotpot he had brought back to refresh himself.

Suddenly, he heard the faint sound of iron armor clashing from a large army on the march. The commander frowned, curious at heart. How could there be troop movements at the important site of the Chengtian Gate? Even if the Shenji Camp and the Yongwei Camp were being deployed, they could only go through the other three gates—there was no way they could pass through the Daming Gate and the Chengtian Gate.

This Mobile Corps Commander stuck his head out from the tower to look at both sides. When he looked to the right, he was instantly stunned.

In the Imperial City garrison grounds, over ten thousand armored soldiers of the Yongwei Camp, clad in armor and bearing sharp weapons, marched in orderly steps past the edge of Taiye Lake, surrounding the Imperial City along the Chengtian Gate line.

Huang Degong rode out with a dark face, raising his horsewhip and shouting at the Chengtian Gate defenders: "Open the damn gate for me, now!"

"General Piaoqi! What are you trying to do?" This Mobile Corps Commander asked in terror, his face already turning deathly pale.

Huang Degong shouted loudly: "I'm going to the Censorate to seize someone! Stop your damn blabbering and open the gate at once! If it's not open within ten breaths, I'll blast it open myself with the red barbarian cannon!"

Seeing the formation below the tower, the Mobile Corps Commander dared not resist head-on. He squeezed out a smile uglier than crying and said: "Open the gate!"

Huang Degong charged through the city gate at the lead, with large numbers of Yongwei Camp soldiers holding firearms and jogging closely behind him as they entered the Chengtian Gate.

After the entire Yongwei Camp army had entered the Chengtian Gate, this officer exchanged a glance with the guarding eunuchs who had long since collapsed to the ground in fear, and both saw the terror in each other's eyes.

From the Chengtian Gate to the open ground before the Meridian Gate, densely packed soldiers filled the area. Clad in armor, expressionless, fury burned in every heart.

The Censorate office near the Chengtian Gate had already been surrounded so tightly that not even water could leak through. Large numbers of armored soldiers aimed their pitch-black firearms at the office's main gate.

The guards before the office had long since fled in terror into the Censorate courtyard, while the censors and minor clerks inside were so frightened they hid in the buildings.

Huang Degong personally led troops charging into the Censorate courtyard, set a heavy coffin down in the middle of it, and boomed: "Hey, surnamed Tang! Get in here and lie down!"

In the rear offices of the Censorate, a spacious hall was filled with censors enjoying their lunch. At this moment they were bustling noisily, discussing the victory at this morning's court assembly.

Several censors were passionately showing off their eloquence, not even food able to shut their mouths.

Tang Shiji sat surrounded by the crowd in the middle, becoming the core of the table. In this impeachment of the Crown Prince, he, as the leader, had charged at the very front, his words so sharp they were shocking. Although he had ultimately been demoted, his standing among the censors remained towering and supreme.

A round-faced censor of only thirty years with fair, clean skin said regretfully: "Lord Tang is upright and selfless, speaking bluntly without hesitation, upholding the court's laws and discipline. To be murdered by the Crown Prince and then punished with demotion—it's truly unjust!"

The crowd of censors nodded one after another, putting on looks of grief and indignation, as if it were they themselves who had been hunted and punished.

Tang Shiji put down his bowl and chopsticks, pressed down with his hand, and amid the admiring gazes of some censors, first took a sip of tea before saying: "Sacrificing oneself for righteousness is the glory of us censors! We who have read the books of the sages and worthies must never easily yield or bow our heads!"

The moment his words fell, before he had even set down his teacup, a commotion came from the front courtyard, followed by a furious roar: "Hey, surnamed Tang! Get in here and lie down!"

"Lie down? Lie down where?" Tang Shiji wondered curiously, not knowing what clueless brute dared to make trouble at the Censorate!

"These days the world truly is in decline—anyone dares to run wild at the Censorate now!"

Tang Shiji had no mood to continue eating. He led the crowd of censors to the front courtyard, but the moment they emerged through the archway of the front courtyard, their eyes went wide!

They saw the Censorate's front courtyard already surrounded by large numbers of soldiers holding fire lances. They were menacing, every face gloomy, as if they had come to settle a blood grudge. In the middle of the courtyard sat a coffin.

Tang Shiji said in a deep voice with a proud look: "You have some nerve! Daring to surround the important grounds of the Censorate with troops—are you trying to rebel!"

Huang Degong pointed at Tang Shiji and said coldly: "Grasping at shadows, framing the Crown Prince, slandering a loyal and righteous army—for such a treacherous minister, I will butcher you today!"

These words made all the censors' faces change drastically. Storming the Censorate to kill a censor? Wasn't that rebellion? How arrogant was this Huang Degong!

Tang Shiji's mouth twitched slightly as he said: "Huang Degong, although I have been demoted, the paperwork has not yet been processed. I am still one of the Seven Ministers. If you dare kill me, that is rebellion! His Majesty will exterminate your entire clan nine generations!"

"No need for you to process the paperwork—I'll do it for you!" Huang Degong strode forward, grabbed Tang Shiji by the collar, dragged him over, kicked open the coffin lid, and pressed him straight inside.

Several Yongwei Camp soldiers lifted the coffin lid and slammed it shut with a bang, scaring Tang Shiji into rolling his eyes back and fainting.

"General, how should we deal with this surnamed Tang? Should we drag him to the Loyal Souls Shrine to kowtow to our fallen brothers?" asked a Battalion Commander of the Yongwei Camp.

"Think a kowtow settles it?" Huang Degong glared angrily: "Bury him directly! Right here!"

Burying the Left Censor-in-Chief alive on the spot in the Censorate courtyard—the censors were so terrified they scrambled backward, utterly horrified. This Huang Degong had completely gone mad!

Seeing these censors each cowardly as hell, Huang Degong let out a furious shout and ordered everyone who had seconded Tang Shiji in the great hall to be seized and brought over.

Huang Degong looked at the censors sprawled on the ground one by one, sneered, and said: "Aren't you all quite good at talking? Come on! Keep telling me how the Yongwei Camp plotted rebellion!"

Seeing that the coffin holding Tang Shiji was about to be lowered into the pit, these censors had no trace left of their usual righteous and solemn image. Each one was so frightened they knelt directly, and two even fainted on the spot.

Huang Degong took his horsewhip and lashed this group of censors viciously, cursing as he did: "You cowards who wouldn't dare kill a chicken on normal days! All you do is grasp at shadows and impeach this one and that one! What use does the dynasty have for you? Kill them all for me!"

Sun Yingyuan hastily stopped him and said in a low voice: "That's about enough."

In the surrounding offices of the Six Ministries, officials of all ranks were discussing animatedly. First they were terrified, then they denounced the arrogance of Huang Degong and the other military officers—daring to march troops through the Chengtian Gate and surround the Censorate. This was simply a grave provocation against the court.

Yang Sichang, Minister of War, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. He had just assumed office at the Ministry of War when such a huge incident occurred. Just moments ago, the Ministry of War official he had sent to negotiate with Huang Degong had been driven back.

With Huang Degong ignoring him, Yang Sichang had no recourse. He had long heard of the Yongwei Camp's ferocity and dared not act rashly. For a moment, he truly did not know what to do.

Jiang Fengyuan, Minister of Rites, came to the Censorate to personally meet with Huang Degong. Frowning, he said: "Everyone knows His Highness and the Yongwei Camp have been wronged, and no one believed the words of that shameless wretch Tang Shiji. General, how is such conduct befitting a subject of the throne? Are you not casting His Highness into disrepute?"

Huang Degong held considerable respect for this teacher of the Crown Prince, and seeing that his words carried some reason, he was fairly courteous to him—but no matter what, he refused to release Tang Shiji.

This Minister of Rites then shared his decades of experience in governance, expounded a great deal of grand principles, and rambled on for a long while trying to move Huang Degong.

Seeing this, Sun Yingyuan could not help but say: "Lord Jiang, Tang Shiji absolutely cannot be released. As for the other censors, that's easier to manage—I'll have them bound and escorted to the Meridian Gate for His Majesty to decide. How about that?"

"Can't be released? He's been killed?"

Seeing that he could not persuade the two men, Jiang Fengyuan did not ask further. He could only sigh and return to the Ministry of Rites.

This mess—let His Majesty handle it himself. Whose fault was it that he didn't give an explanation first? Now someone had come knocking on his door in person to demand one.

Asking for recommendation tickets!