Chapter 18 The Grand Ceremony of Searching for Yongle and Planning to Surrender Li Dingguo (2-in-1)

『Chongzhen: Shopkeeper, I have tidied up the furniture in the palace and the royal pharmacy in the palace.

The medicinal materials that you like include ginseng, fleece-flower root and Ganoderma lucidum.

The newer furniture includes golden nanmu and small leaf sandalwood. Do you have anything else to add?"

"Chen Ye: Just give me the data and I will give you the price.

By the way, I suddenly remembered, Yongle Dadian, give me a copy of the Yongle Dadian! I want the rubbings from your palace."

Chen Ye's hand playing the game suddenly stopped.

"Chongzhen: Does the owner want the Yongle Grand Ceremony? There is a part of it in the Wenyuan Pavilion of the Capital, but it is incomplete. The complete copy is in Nanzhili, and it will take time to assemble it."

"Chen Ye: Great, I want this. One million, I will pay you one million! You can ask someone to copy it and keep a copy, and give me the original rubbing."

Chen Ye quit the game excitedly and began to search for detailed information about the Yongle Ceremony.

Yongle Dadian is a set of books compiled by Zhu Di after he came to the throne to demonstrate the prestige of the country, benefit all generations, and make his name famous.

The purpose is to "collect all the books on classics and history from hundreds of schools of thought since the time of the Deed, as well as on astronomy, geographies, yin and yang, medical divination, monks' Taoism, and technical skills."

It can be said that education has been engraved in the bones of the Chinese people since ancient times. The Yongle Dadian is known as the world's first complete encyclopedia.

Chen Ye plans to arrange for this book to be published in a reasonable manner and then handed over to the country. It would be very inhumane to sell this kind of national cultural treasure for money.

When Chongzhen saw the news about Chen Ye, two one million dollars in a row, one could see Chen Ye's excitement, which made him think that there was some secret hidden in the Yongle ceremony.

However, he thought about it and understood that since Chen Ye didn't say books at first, but gold, it meant that Chen Ye's place was still a material world, and culture might be something to supplement it.

"Are books more valuable? Since the shop owner likes books so much, wouldn't it be a waste if I don't collect them carefully?

I don’t know what’s so special about Yongle Dadian, it’s just a collection of books from hundreds of schools of thought. Could it be that there’s a way to immortality in it?”

Chongzhen didn't know that a lot of information recorded in the Yongle Ceremony had been lost to later generations. Chen Ye felt heartbroken every time he saw it.

Many of the materials in it may be supplements and explanations of Chinese civilization.

However, Chongzhen was not in a hurry, because he would have someone copy it no matter what. If there was something magical, he would be able to find it. If he couldn't find it, there was no point in suspicion.

At the same time, Chongzhen sent people to spread the news about tax cuts from the Ministry of Revenue to the world.

It's a pity that various places have been starving for a long time, tax cuts have no effect, and officials in various places are acting as if they don't see it.

Xiangyang.

Luo Yangxing didn't dare to breathe for the two jade tigers from Chongzhen and the new food and salary, so he hurried on and rode to Hanzhong in two days.

"Hey, these legs are almost useless!"

Luo Yangxing reined in his horse and stopped at the Hanzhong city gate, rubbing the inside of his already torn thigh. After the soldiers handed over the order documents, he went to the general barracks to deliver the order.

“Damn it, Yang Sichang, you old dog is really capable, huh?

You can bring your Majesty to endorse you, bah, you don’t care about martial ethics, you just rely on favor and become arrogant."

After receiving the news, Zuo Liangyu did not dare to neglect. His Majesty even sent the commander of the Jinyi Guards. If he continued to work as a foreigner, then Chongzhen would really become him.

However, he was not angry with Yang Sichang and thought that Yang Sichang immediately informed the capital and asked Chongzhen to send someone to supervise the army.

...the third day of the first lunar month

As planned, Li Dingguo took the stolen documents, changed into official uniforms, asked his followers to change into Ming army clothes, and rode to the outer city of Xiangyang.

Two people dressed as refugees saw Li Dingguo and his party coming on horseback and deliberately stepped forward.

"General, Xiangyang City is indeed empty. Because of the relationship between King Chuang of Luoyang, the government and army have stepped up inspections and made interrogations in the city much stricter. Refugees are not allowed to enter recently."

"It seems that the fall of Luoyang frightened the prefect of Xiangyang. Fortunately, the documents were robbed, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to get in."

After drinking the water, Li Dingguo straightened his clothes and continued to rush to the city gate.

At the main gate of Xiangyang, Ma Xianglin led people to observe in the arrow tower, and suddenly saw a group of Ming army soldiers and horses in the outer city, coming under the banner of the Governor of Huguang.

"Hey, it's really coming. Your Majesty's calculations are so good. Now that you're here, let's stay!"

Ma Xianglin said excitedly and gave a few instructions to Xiao Qi beside him.

After Xiaoqi heard this, he immediately turned around and ran towards the tower.

Li Dingguo, who turned the corner to Weng City Gate, also noticed the guard of the archery tower, but he was not panicked with the seal in his hand.

After taking a closer look, I saw that Wengcheng only did not allow refugees to enter, and there were several Ming troops guarding it. I immediately felt relieved.

After some questioning, the guards at Wengcheng Gate shouted to the city gate tower to open the door and let them pass through Wengcheng Gate.

Li Dingguo signaled a few of his subordinates to stay, chatted with the defenders at Weng City Gate, and controlled the retreat, while he rushed towards the city gate tower.

The moment they all walked into the city gate, a basin of water from the city wall poured onto several beggars outside the city gate.

These beggars jumped up in an instant and rushed towards the gate of Moguang City. As they walked, they opened their tattered bundles and revealed their standard bright knives.

Entering Weng City, Li Dingguo saw a large group of people blocking the inside of the city gate. He immediately got on his horse. The moment he turned around, the people who were left behind at the city gate were already fighting together.

"It's a scam! Get out quickly!"

Li Dingguo looked at the city gate tower in horror. The few people he left behind had been hacked to death by General Ming and several refugees.

The heavy city gate was closed, and rows of soldiers rushed out from the city gate tower, muskets and arrows aimed at Li Dingguo's group.

Outside the door, several refugees who had been guarding the city tower for several days were leaving. They were suddenly entangled by another group of refugees and started fighting together.

"Who are you! Why are you blocking me! I have important military information, and the army is in urgent need of food and fodder replenishment!"

The prefect Wang Chengzeng watched Zhang Ningyu reining in his horse and shouting to the tower from the tower, and couldn't help but laugh.

Ma Xianglin's method is really good. When the Holy One knows that Wang Chengzeng is so capable in coordinating and leading troops, he will definitely appreciate him greatly.

"I, the magistrate of Xiangyang, and Li Dingguo, a rebellious minister and traitor, coerced the people into rebellion and robbed and killed messengers. You can plead guilty!"

"Well, you, the magistrate of Xiangyang, now that you have recognized me, I will kill or hack you as you please. Open the door and let me go."

Seeing that his identity was exposed, Li Dingguo simply stopped pretending and drew his sword. The soldiers beside him had already drawn their swords out of nervousness.

"Li Dingguo, put down your arms obediently and accept His Majesty's decision. Your Majesty has said that if you are willing to surrender, you will all be exempted from the death penalty.

If you are willing to fight for the imperial court, you can still do meritorious service! Your Majesty, let bygones be bygones."

"The emperor really said that?"

Li Dingguo thought about it and felt like farting. Did the emperor expect that he would be caught? He just wanted to keep the green hills and not worry about running out of firewood.

His godfather Zhang Xianzhong is in the suburbs now. As long as the people in the city go according to plan at night, Xiangyang City will be destroyed tomorrow.

Even if they can't be broken, it would be nice if they could get a job as an official. Don't they, the leaders of the rebellion, just want to have enough to eat and still have rights?

"I am willing to surrender!"

"Okay! Okay! A man who knows the current affairs is a hero. General Zhang, put down your weapons, take your entourage, and go to the city gate tower in vain."

Wang Chengzeng happily waved to the people around him, "Big Fish, although it was because of the Holy Spirit's will, being able to capture Li Dingguo alive is also a great achievement!"

Li Dingguo threw away his long knife, but kept the short gun in his waist. When the people around him saw his action, they all breathed a sigh of relief and threw away their weapons one after another.

When Li Dingguo and others walked downstairs of the city gate, a group of archers and several spearmen in brocade uniforms holding torches arrived. After separating them, Li Dingguo was tied up and the flintlock muskets on his body were also found.

Li Dingguo was brought to the city tower alone. At this time, the entire Wengcheng returned to its previous calm. The beggars and refugees on the outer city wall continued to be where they were, except for a few refugees who were controlled by the government and the army.

"Master Wang, I want to know how you saw through me? Are there multiple batches of messengers?"

While going upstairs, Li Dingguo connected everything together and found that things were not simple.

From the arrow tower to the doorway, there are only a few dozen breaths of time. If he is recognized, he should go into the city before taking action against him.

Or give a direct warning. It is obvious that this is a trap, specially set up for him, or for this group of fake messengers.

But all the inns along the road had been taken down by the godfather. Yang Sichang's messengers came and killed them one by one. How could there be a second batch of messengers?

Wang Chengzeng saw Li Dingguo's confused face, looked at each other and laughed with Ma Xianglin.

"Hahaha, Li Dingguo, you think you have a well-planned plan. In fact, His Majesty knew about it half a month ago. He also sent a messenger to deliver the message and delivered firearms, armor, and silver for support.

Your majesty, your saint, not only knows that you will raid Xiangyang, but also knows that you will definitely send people into the city to cause destruction, will kidnap the messenger, and even know that you will come today."

"What? Impossible! How is this possible! More than ten days ago, Yang Sichang was led by his godfather.

I pretended to be a courier but I also temporarily self-imposed. That was only two days ago. Impossible! Absolutely impossible. You are lying to me!"

Looking at Li Dingguo with a look of disbelief on his face, what he said did not seem to be false. If it was true as Li Dingguo said, he recommended himself two days ago, Wang Chengzeng and Ma Xianglin thought about it carefully and were extremely scared.

'How did your Majesty know this? Is Zhang Xianzhong himself the mole?'

On the contrary, it was Li Dingguo who assumed his own identity.

"Okay! I didn't expect that there is such a hidden secret agent around my godfather. I was designed to recommend myself. It must be Luo Rucai."

Hearing this, the three of them nodded affirmatively at the same time. Only in this case can it be explained.

After Jin Yiwei brought over Zhang Wenxiu, the spy in the city, Li Dingguo was completely willing to surrender. Even the spy was instigated by others, so what else was there to do?

With Li Dingguo's nature, he did not really want to overthrow the Ming Dynasty. Looking at the plans in the city, he could know about this wave of official and military plots.

It was entirely in accordance with their plan, and Zhang Xianzhong's conspiracy was just a joke.
To be continued...