Seizing Military Power

The Commander-in-Chief's Mansion.

"Sterling, Inspector General Xiao Long came to see me just now and submitted his resignation—he's scared too and agreed not to interfere in my struggle with Yang Minghua tonight."

"This is because Commander-in-Chief, you are deeply loved by the people—after today's meeting, he also understood that Yang Minghua is truly unpopular—Yang Minghua is too stupid to have so hastily declared his rebellion."

"No, think about it: before the meeting, Yang Minghua's strength was: Lei Xun's 170,000 Central Army, Di Lin's 50,000 Far East Army outside the city, the Inspectorate's military police, his own guards, and the Imperial Capital's Zhibu Shao police force; while we only had your 10,000 Imperial Guard—he's not stupid, he's overconfident! It would be too much of a waste not to seize such a good opportunity for rebellion!"

"Sir, if I were Yang Minghua, I wouldn't have let the officers of the various units leave the Imperial Capital safely..."

"It's easy to close the city gates and carry out a massacre, but that would make the Far East Army, the Border Defense Army, and the Black Flag Army all mortal enemies of Yang Minghua—Yang Minghua's goal is just to establish authority, and he doesn't want to end up like that—with over eighty percent of the army against him, he wouldn't be able to hold onto power even if he seized it."

"But..."

"Only Ge Yingxing is Yang Minghua's mortal enemy, so he has already arranged for Di Lin to pursue him—Yang Minghua can wait until he ascends to the position of Commander-in-Chief to slowly divide and buy off the others; this is much more brilliant than a massacre."

***

A staff officer entered the temporary command post to report: "Reporting, sir, a large number of armed men in black have appeared around the Commander-in-Chief's Mansion. The defense commander requests instructions."

Sterling stood up abruptly: "How many?!"

"Four thousand eight hundred and twenty-one." It was Zichuan Canxing who answered, "That's Yang Minghua's personal guard."

Sterling didn't ask Zichuan Canxing how he knew the number of Yang Minghua's guards—this should have been extremely classified intelligence, unknown even to Di Lin. He clearly understood the boundaries of a subordinate and didn't say a word more than necessary.

Sterling ordered: "Pay them no mind, but monitor them closely."

Zichuan Canxing asked with interest: "Why?"

"Sir, these are just a rabble, please don't worry about them—the Zhibu Shao police force and the Inspectorate's military police are also nothing to fear. As long as the Imperial Guard is under my command, I guarantee I can sweep them all away in one night!"

"Oh, so what you're concerned about is..."

Sterling's worried gaze turned south, towards the Central Army's camp south of the city: "What I'm most worried about is the Central Army—scouts just reported that the Central Army units on the streets have suddenly all retreated to the camp south of the city to assemble, and the gates are tightly shut..."

"Such a large operation—the Central Army is waiting for Lei Xun's mobilization order."

"You are wise, sir, just as you said—but they might be waiting for a long time." Sterling couldn't help but chuckle.

"Not necessarily," Zichuan Canxing shook his head, "Yang Minghua isn't an idiot. If the Central Army doesn't appear at the agreed time, he'll naturally send someone to take over Lei Xun's troops."

Sterling gazed at the dark and silent southern direction of the city and murmured, "It's all up to you, A'Xiu!"

"Cigarettes, beer, century eggs, eight-treasure porridge!"

"Mineral water, drinks, peanuts, chewing gum!"

"Newspapers, magazines, train schedules, playing cards!"

Inside the solemn and grim conference hall of the Central Army, the more than 300 assembled Central Army officers couldn't believe their eyes: a young man in a deputy commander's uniform pushed a small cart filled with food and shouted as he entered!

Deputy Commander Ge Xin cursed, "Zichuan Xiu, what are you doing?"

"Oh, I saw people on the train selling things like this—am I not imitating them well? But there's no need to get so angry—I learned from the ordinary express trains. If you don't like it, I can learn from the bullet trains!"

Ge Xin: "#·##￥*!"

There was also a chorus of curses from below.

Another deputy commander, Mi Haiyi, thought of a crucial question: "How did you get in? Where are the guards?"

Zichuan Xiu showed the troop deployment order in his hand: "I bribed the guards with this."

The curses suddenly stopped.

Everyone looked at the troop deployment order in Zichuan Xiu's hand in disbelief. Someone whispered, "Impossible, it's fake, right?"

But after verification by the three deputy commanders, it turned out to be real.

***

There was silence, and everyone was at a loss: what exactly was going on?

The officers present already knew about the events of the daytime meeting and had received instructions from their direct superior, Lei Xun: "1. Assemble troops at the southern base camp, fully armed, and prepare for battle. 2. At 7:30, all officers above Vice Banner Captain are to gather in the conference hall for my final orders!"—even the stupidest person knew what was about to happen!

Some were happy, some were sad, but the mindset of the vast majority was: uneasy—in the family's more than 200-year history, no one who had rebelled had ever had a good outcome, but they couldn't disobey the orders of their direct superior...

They gathered with various complex emotions, waiting in line from 7:30 until almost 10 o'clock, but Lei Xun never appeared, nor did anyone with sufficient authority tell them what to do. While they were in a state of anxiety...

Deputy Commander Zichuan Xiu arrived, holding the troop deployment order!

"Your Excellency Xiuchuan, may I ask what business you have?" the third deputy commander, Anning, asked.

"Oh, it's like this. Everyone has been very busy and worked very hard recently—I heard many people have developed hemorrhoids, stomach ulcers, and so on. Commander Lei Xun asked me to come and entertain everyone with a 'Heart-to-Heart' party. Let's all be HAPPY!"

A ghost would believe you!

"Oh, you don't believe me? Then I have to tell the truth—it's actually because the moon is very beautiful tonight, and Commander Lei suddenly felt inspired to have everyone admire the moon together!"

Ge Xin couldn't stand it anymore: "May I ask Your Excellency Xiuchuan, where is our commander, Lord Lei?"

"Oh, when I saw him just now, he was at West Mountain in the north of the city—but now he might have already arrived at Qingxiu Mountain in the south of the city. That place has beautiful scenery and is very suitable for moon gazing—you want to admire the moon with him? No need, really. The environment here is also very good, with a gentle breeze and bright moon..."

"Why the grim face—don't you like moon gazing? You don't even do such elegant things—but fortunately, I anticipated this. It's impossible for everyone to be so poetic!—Do you watch Japanese adult films? The actresses have excellent figures and are very sexy, and they scream so sweetly..."

"You're still making that grim face, I understand—you don't like Japanese films! Such noble patriotic sentiments, you only watch domestic adult films! Fine, I have Hong Kong ones here—you don't like them? Then Taiwanese ones—but I heard they're having a * recently, so I guess you won't like them either..."

"Alright, if everyone is silent, it means there are no objections—you are all dismissed!"

"Hey, Deputy Commander Ge, how can you say I don't have the authority to issue orders? I'm in charge of troop deployment and I'm a deputy commander, so how can I not have the authority to issue orders?"

"Come, come, everyone, take a portion of food, pick your favorite discs to watch—Hey, you there, you've taken two bottles of Eight Treasures Congee, no more taking! And you, wearing the Red Guard Captain uniform, you've plugged the VCD in backwards—Look at you, what are you so flustered about!"

Under Zichuan Xiu's incitement and pulling, the officers who had been standing in formation for nearly three hours were already exhausted. Since Zichuan Xiu, who seemed authoritative (he was a deputy commander and held the troop deployment order), had given them an order, and this order was indeed very pleasant (rest, eat, drink, watch discs), anyway, Commander Lei Xun's order was just to tell everyone to wait—but it didn't specify how to wait—With a "whoosh," the neat formation broke apart, and everyone started chatting, laughing, grabbing food and drinks—the venue, which had been solemn and imposing just moments ago, instantly turned into a party venue.

The three deputy commanders' faces were a mix of emotions, each with a question mark: "What should we do?"

Anning suggested, "Why don't we just observe the situation?" He wasn't very enthusiastic about rebellion in the first place, and had only come under pressure from Lei Xun. Now that Lei Xun wasn't showing up, it was the best possible outcome.

Ge Xin objected, "How can we do that? This is such a precious opportunity!" Lei Xun had already spoken to him beforehand; if successful, he would be the new Central Army Commander.

Mi Haiyi sneered, "The situation is unclear. Acting blindly now is equivalent to seeking immediate death." Rebellion benefits you, but it has nothing to do with me! If we lose, it's confiscation of property and extermination of the clan; if we win, there's no benefit at all—you go do this stupid thing yourself.

Seeing that he couldn't persuade the other two deputy commanders, Ge Xin gritted his teeth and stomped his foot, about to walk out of the conference hall: his own troops numbered nearly fifty thousand, and he could also decide the overall situation.

A sharp voice called out from the doorway: "Stop!"

Shirakawa, Roger, and others led Zichuan Xiu's more than forty guards and blocked the entrance to the conference hall.

Zichuan Xiu said leisurely, "Such a clear breeze and bright moon—Where are you in such a hurry to go, Mr. Ge Xin?"

Ge Xin chuckled, "Mr. Zichuan, coming to our Central Army to cause trouble, you only brought this few people—a bit too few, wouldn't you say?"

He was right. This was the Central Army's headquarters. As soon as a fight broke out, tens of thousands of Central Army troops would surround them, and not a single person on Zichuan Xiu's side would make it out alive—even the number of officers in the hall far exceeded Zichuan Xiu's guards, and they were all fully armed.

Zichuan Xiu also chuckled and suddenly shouted—his voice as astonishing as thunderous roars:

"Yang Minghua plotted rebellion, a heinous crime, and has been executed!"

"Lei Xun colluded in the plot, his crimes are egregious, and he has been executed!"

"The forty thousand Far East troops who came to the Emperor's aid are already at the Imperial Capital, led by Lord Ge Yingxing!"

"The choice is yours, gentlemen! Whoever wants to accompany Yang Minghua and Lei Xun to the grave, please do! They are quite lonely down there!"

The content of his words was more shocking than the volume of his qi-infused voice, and everyone trembled, unable to stand steady!

"He's talking nonsense! Kill him!" Ge Xin, having recovered, loudly ordered his subordinates.

"Nonsense?" Zichuan Xiu threw something in front of Ge Xin with one hand: "See for yourself!"

It was so familiar—everyone knew without looking that it was Lei Xun's most treasured and important Commander's Seal.

No one paid attention to Ge Xin's order; they were all considering the new situation: Yang Minghua and Lei Xun were dead, and the Far East army had arrived to suppress the rebellion... What should they do?

Mi Haiyi said gently to Zichuan Xiu, "Mr. Zichuan, let's be frank, what exactly do you want us to do?" His tone was much more subdued than before.

Zichuan Xiu replied with a solemn expression, "I wouldn't dare, I just want to ask everyone not to leave tonight and to wait here until tomorrow morning."

The officers all breathed a sigh of relief: they had thought they were being asked to fight Yang Minghua. This condition was acceptable—they were unwilling to follow Yang Minghua in rebellion, but they didn't have the courage to suppress the rebellion—it was best to just sit here quietly and wait for the storm to pass.

Anning interjected, "Mr. Zichuan, do you understand the current situation?" (Meaning, if we defect now, will the Commander-in-Chief spare us?)

Zichuan Xiu understood their concerns very well and raised his right hand to swear, "I swear upon the grave of my father, Zichuan Xiu: as long as everyone in the Central Army stays in this room tonight and does not leave, I guarantee that everyone will be fine—if I violate this oath, may God strip me of my life, honor, and property."

Everyone was relieved: this was the most solemn oath a Zichuan Family officer could make, and Zichuan Xiu had always had a good reputation; no one had ever heard of him breaking an oath.

Anning and Mi Haiyi exchanged glances, and Anning nodded, "I hope Lord Zichuan keeps his word." He had changed his address from "Mr." to "Lord Zichuan."

Mi Haiyi stood to the right side of the hall: "I accept Lord Zichuan's conditions—those who agree, please stand over here."

The officers, readily, decisively, hesitantly, and with hesitation—almost all moved to the right, leaving only Ge Xin and about a dozen others standing in place.

At Shirakawa's command, Zichuan Xiu's guards stepped forward and surrounded them.

Ge Xin's expression changed. Zichuan Xiu said gently to him, "Mr. Ge Xin, a wise man adapts to circumstances. My promise is equally valid for you. The great mistake has not yet been made; it is not too late to turn back!"

Ge Xin mumbled a few words: "Thank you, Lord Zichuan, for your magnanimity..." and then also moved to the right. His subordinates all followed.

Zichuan Xiu secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Finally, we've secured the neutrality of the Central Army—then Sterling's Imperial Guard won't have much trouble defeating Yang Minghua's guards. The overall situation is decided tonight!"

"Alright, everything is fine, everyone can just relax and have fun! Eat whatever you like, friends who want to watch discs, come over here. As long as you don't leave the room, you can do anything—"

"Who's there!"

"Halt!" Zichuan Xiu's guards at the entrance shouted!

With a few "bang, bang, bang" sounds, several of Zichuan Xiu's guards were thrown in, legs flailing!

Chief of Staff Luo Minghai's perpetually gloomy face appeared at the doorway.

Zichuan Xiu cried out in his heart, "Not good!"

If Luo Minghai exposed Zichuan Xiu's lie, stating that Yang Minghua was not dead and the Far East army had not arrived, and then issued orders with his authority as Chief of Staff—these wavering Central Army officers might rebel again, and at that time... he and his subordinates would have nowhere to be buried!

Only with a swift, thunderous strike, killing him before Luo Minghai could speak! Zichuan Xiu's killing intent surged, and his hand had already tightened around the hilt of his sword