Chapter 9: To Gamble or Not to Gamble?

  It was late at night and all was quiet, but inside Guan Yu's palace, the lights were still shining brightly.

  Outside the warm pavilion, Empress Zhezhe and Consort Zhuang Bumubutai were so anxious that they were pacing back and forth. The two of them really wanted to push open the door and take a look, but they didn't dare to be presumptuous. Finally, the tightly closed large door opened a crack, and an old imperial physician with a tired face walked out. Zhezhe and Bumubutai quickly surrounded him, anxiously asking: "Imperial Physician, how is Consort Shen?"

  The imperial physician shook his head and sighed: "Your Majesty the Empress, I have done all that I can."

  "Ah?" Zhe Zhe exclaimed in a low voice, "Chen Fei she..."

  "This is not the case." The imperial physician said gloomily, "It's possible that Consort Shu wants to see the Emperor one last time, and that's why she's struggling to hold on and won't pass away."

  Zhe Zhe was in a state of confusion: "What can be done about this? What would be the best solution?"

  Bu Mu Bu Tai was very calm at this time, and said to Zhe Zhe: "Empress, Shen Fei is the emperor's most beloved concubine. If we conceal the news of her critical illness and don't report it, the emperor will definitely blame us. The most urgent thing now is to quickly dispatch a fast horse to Songshan and let the emperor hurry back to Shengjing to see Shen Fei for the last time."

  "Right, right, right." Zhe Zhe said in a row, "Someone come and hurry to the Liqinwangfu and Zhengqinwangfu, let the two princes immediately send a fast horse to Songshan, tell the emperor that the Empress is critically ill, let him hurry back to Shengjing."

  The eunuch general who was attending beside him rolled and crawled out of the inner court, and delivered Zhezhe's edict to Li Guangwang and Zheng Guowang, who were guarding Shengjing. Li Guangwang was away on an expedition, but Zheng Guowang, Ji'erhalang, did not dare to be slow, and immediately dispatched a fast horse with a 600-li urgent message to the Songshan front line.

  Let's talk about the 600-mile rush delivery: During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were post stations every ten miles and relay stations every thirty miles. The relay stations had specialized horses for express delivery. The 600-mile rush delivery meant that the horses would be changed continuously along the way without stopping, ensuring that the message was delivered within twelve hours to a place six hundred miles away.

  Under the 600-li express, there are 400-li express, 300-li express and 200-li express.

  On top of the 600-li express, there is an even more urgent 800-li express. The 800-li express is not just running 800 li in twelve hours, but rather racing to death, as fast as possible, and it's possible to run over 1,000 li in one day. In the end, the letter was delivered, the horse died of exhaustion, and the person also died of exhaustion! During the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang often did this so that Yang Guifei could eat fresh lychees.

  The long street was quiet, the night was still, and people were in a deep sleep. Suddenly, a hurried horseshoe sound shattered everyone's dreams. The gatekeeper Jian Nu was dozing off when he heard the urgent horseshoe sound ringing in his ears. He raised his head abruptly to see a horse rushing towards him like flying. In the night sky, a loud and mournful shout echoed: "Quickly open the city gate! The Minister Zheng Qianwang has an urgent message from 600 miles away..."

  The three Janitors guarding the gate stepped forward and blocked the way. The leader of the Janitors spread his hands and said in a deep voice, "Halt."

  The messenger pulled out a letter from his bosom, and on it was indeed the purple flower seal of the Shengjing Lieutenant General. The gatekeeper turned around and waved his hand, shouting: "Open the city gate!"

  A dozen or so slaves burst out of the gatehouse, swarming up to push open the door bolts. The tightly closed city gates had just opened a crack when the horseman swept out like a whirlwind and vanished into the vast night sky.

  ■■■

  Changyong Fortress

  Just as Wang Pu was about to take a short nap, Xia Qi suddenly pushed the door open and reported: "General, that Zhen Youcai is making a fuss to see you, saying it's an urgent matter."

  "What about him?"

  Xiao Qi said: "Waiting outside."

  "Let him in."

  "Bring it in."

  Xiao Qi turned around and called out, and two house servants immediately escorted Zhen Youcai into the main hall. Wang Pu frowned and asked: "Zhen Youcai, what's going on?"

  Zhen Youcai lowered his head, stole a glance at Wang Pu, and quickly looked down again, saying softly: "General, are you thinking of taking advantage of the darkness to make it difficult for the slaves on the city wall to see clearly, and sending someone disguised as Li Zongwang's guard to deceive the gate of Shengjing City?"

  "Huh?"

  Wang Pu's face sank as he looked at Xiao Qi, who hastily shook his head. He wouldn't dare to reveal such a major military secret to Zhen Youcai.

  Zhen Youcai seemed to have guessed Wang Pu's concerns and said in a low voice: "Sir, don't be surprised, these are all guesses made by a humble person."

  "Guessed it?" Wang Pu was secretly shocked in his heart and asked, "How did you guess it?"

  Zhen Youcai said: "The little man saw outside the village that there were military officers collecting armor from the guards of Prince Li, and later the general asked if the little man could speak Manchu. I guessed that the general wanted to send someone disguised as Prince Li's guard to deceive the city gate. General, if you really have this intention, I advise you to dispel it early on. If you want to deceive the gates of Shengjing, it's not that easy."

  Wang Pu asked expressionlessly: "What do you mean by this?"

  Zhu Youcai said: "In the year when Nurhaci started his army, he had only a few tens of thousands of troops, but he repeatedly captured our Great Ming Dynasty's heavily guarded Fushun, Kaiyuan, Tieling, Shengjing, Liaoyang and other military strongholds. The bravery and combat skills of the Eight Banners Army was one reason, but the most important reason was that Nurhaci was extremely good at using internal responses to deceive and open the city gates. The high walls of several major military strongholds in Liaodong were over 10 zhang (a unit of measurement) high, but they could not play their due role as a barrier."

  "What does this have to do with us?"

  "Of course, it's related." Zhen Youcai said, "Nurhaci took over the entire Liaodong by deceiving and opening the city gate. How could he leave others with the same opportunity? General, sending someone to impersonate Li Duo's guard to deceive the city gate is not seeking death?"

  "I don't believe it," Xiao Qi asked back, "Could it be that Jian Nu's Li Wang is calling out at the city gate and the gatekeeper Jian Nu won't even open it?"

  "Two generals, you are unaware that when the old slave Nurhaci was alive, he had established strict rules. All cities would close their gates at night, and without the slave owner or the Minister of Defense's permission, unless it was the slave owner himself, Emperor Taizong, who came in person, the gatekeepers would never open the city gates!"

  Wang Pudao said: "Dai Shan is both a ceremonial relative of the king and the Minister of Defense for Shengjing, he must have some connection with the rebellion!"

  "It's too late." Zhen Youcai said regretfully, "Dai Shan must have carried some precautions with him, otherwise how could he return to the city? But now, I'm afraid they've already been destroyed by him."

  "Despicable!" Xia Qi clenched his fists, speaking in a foul tone, "General, I'll go take a look. If that old slave really destroyed the Guan defense, it's better to kill him with random knives than to leave him alive."

  "Xiao Qi, don't be impulsive." Wang Pu stopped Xiao Qi and turned to Zhen Youcai, "Zhen Youcai, is there anything else you want to say to General Ben?"

  Zhen Youcai's eyes rolled around and he continued: "Oh, apart from these, there is one more thing."

  Wang Bodao said: "Say, what's up?"

  Zhen Youcai said: "The general wants to use a surprise attack to capture the city of Shengjing, but I have a plan."

  "What's the plan?" Wang Pu asked coldly, "Tell me."

  Zhen Youcai said, "The night watch of Jian Nu is very strict, and it's absolutely impossible to deceive the city gate. However, the daytime watch is relatively relaxed, and it's not difficult to mix in a few dozen people into the city."

  Zhen Youcai's words are indeed true. In recent years, the Ming army has been powerless to attack Liaodong, and Chosun and Mongolia have already surrendered to Jian Nu.

  In such a big environment, Jianzhou has never thought that Shengjing would be attacked! In fact, this is all the inertia of human thinking. Since Nurhaci's rebellion, Jianzhou has been very smooth, except for the two defeats in the Ningyuan City siege, and there have been no major defeats. It is impossible not to breed arrogant atmosphere under such circumstances.

  "What are you talking about?" Little Qi shouted, "What kind of joke is this? How can over a thousand people approach Shengjing City in broad daylight? Do you think the guards inside the city are all dead?"

  Wang Pu waved his hand to stop Xiao Qi and turned to Zhen Youcai: "Speak, continue speaking."

  "General, you may not know that this estate is actually an imperial villa. Every so often, it sends grain, vegetables, and fresh game to the palace in Shengjing City. It just so happens that they're due to send another shipment soon. You can have your men disguise themselves as carters and hide their weapons in the grain carts. The guards at the gate are familiar with me, so they probably won't inspect them closely. They should be able to sneak into the city."

  If what Zhen Youtian said is true, then this is indeed a solution.

  Under the bright sky, Jian Nu's vigilance was not high. Secondly, since Zhang Yongbao was a royal estate and frequently transported grain, vegetables, and game to the imperial palace, the gate-keeping Jian Nu would be even less suspicious. However, the risk of doing so was extremely great. If Zhen Youcai suddenly spoke nonsense, the consequences would be severe. At night, if they failed to deceive the gate, they could still slip away under the cover of darkness. But during the day, it would be difficult to escape, as Jian Nu's archery skills were not to be underestimated.

  "Zhen has talent." Wang Pu narrowed his eyes and suddenly said a seemingly unrelated sentence, "Shouldn't General Ben thank you? You saved the lives of General Ben and over a thousand Ming soldiers, didn't you?"

  "I don't dare." Zhen Youcai hastily lowered his head, not daring to meet Wang Pu's cold and piercing gaze. He cupped his hands in response, "This humble one is doing this for his own life as well. If the general loses the battle at Shengjing, I'm afraid this humble one won't survive either. Only if the general achieves great success can this humble one live a good life... hehehe..."

  Wang Pao said: "So, General, should I believe you?"

  "General, don't trust him." Little Seven hastily said, "Be careful that this guy is deceiving us."

  Zhen Youcai didn't dare make a sound, only his eyes rolling around restlessly, looking like a sly and cunning scoundrel.

  ……

  There is still one more chapter tonight, and tomorrow morning we will officially rush to the top of the charts. I hope readers will give their full support.