I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 527 Darkest Hour
"Oh, what do you mean?" Zhu Houxuan said in surprise.

"Because the logistics of the Guards have completely collapsed," Chen Hong said with a smile.

Zhu Houxuan suddenly realized that he knew too well how much the Imperial Guards relied on logistics. Since the establishment of the Imperial Guards sixteen years ago, the Royal Group has always provided professional and efficient logistical support. Now that the Imperial Guards have lost the Royal Group's logistical support, it is fine in the capital, but it is not enough to cross more than 400 miles in the severe winter weather to attack the Tangshan Industrial Zone.
Logistics work seems simple, but it is not so easy to do.
Without the Royal Group, the Guards could only rely on the Ministry of War to organize logistics. However, since the Royal Group took over the logistics of the Guards, the Ministry of War has not organized large-scale logistics support for a long time, and even the relevant talents have been cut off. The Ministry of War probably can't even find an official who can organize civilians.
Under such logistical chaos, it is not easy to organize a large army to attack the Tangshan Industrial Zone. This is why the Tangshan Industrial Zone has not been attacked even after 13 days of the coup.
"And when we left, we also notified all departments of the Royal Group to evacuate as much as possible. As far as I know, the Ministry of Railways has already driven away all trains around Beijing, and the employees of the Ministry of Railways have also completed the evacuation. They probably can't even use the railways anymore." Chen Hong continued.

Zhu Houxuan was stunned when he heard this, and said in surprise: "Jiang Bin didn't even think of controlling the train station and the railway first?"

Zhu Houxuan then figured out the reason. Trains had only been invented a short time ago, and Zhu Houxuan probably hadn't realized the important role that trains and railways would play in the civil war.
"Let's add another layer of insurance and bury explosives on all the railway bridges around Tangshan to prevent the worst from happening!" said Zhu Houxuan.

Chen Hong was a little surprised, then smiled and said, "Yes, sir!"

Zhu Houxuan walked to the window, opened it, and let the cold wind blow into the house. He looked at the snow-covered scene outside and looked towards the direction of the capital.
After a long while, he said, "I want to go to the capital to have a look."

The heavy snow for several consecutive days turned the area around the capital into a vast expanse of white, and also made the capital wear a layer of white clothes.
But the thick snow still couldn't cover the towering blue-grey walls of the capital. The huge capital was like an ancient beast lying in the snow, exuding infinite majesty.
Zhu Houxuan put down the telescope in his hand. He just saw the red figures on the city wall. The guards have already climbed up the city wall.
"The guards around the capital were withdrawn yesterday. Now the entire capital is closed and everyone entering and leaving is subject to strict inspection. The Empress Dowager Zhang formally accepted the eldest son on behalf of the late emperor the day before yesterday, and also offered sacrifices to the Taimiao, and issued an edict to all directions and announced it to the world," said Jiang Jianyuan, Minister of Railways.

"Inform all places that they must stop at all costs from spreading the imperial edict from the capital." Chen Hong said immediately.

"Yes!" Jiang Jianyuan said with a sigh.

Zhu Houxuan was followed by hundreds of riders, all wearing white clothes and white capes. If you didn't look carefully, you couldn't spot them from the top of the city wall.
The once prosperous capital city suddenly became deserted without all the pedestrians and caravans. The people around also noticed the abnormality of the capital city and dared not approach it.
Zhu Houxuan stared at the capital city in the distance. A month ago, he said goodbye to Zhu Houzhao and set out from here to Dalian. However, things are unpredictable. Just one month later, he fell into this situation.
He could already imagine that behind the thick walls of the capital, the coup treasonous traitors were advancing their plans in an orderly manner, and were even discussing how to divide up the extremely juicy piece of meat of the Royal Group in the future.
He could only watch all this happen helplessly, waiting for the rebels to complete their plan and then call on the people of the world to attack him.
Because Zhu Houzhao was in the city, the seal of the highest power and the ruling institutions of the Ming Dynasty were also in the city. People in the world would recognize these things instead of him as the King of Wu. He had now lost his advantage in status.
His defeat seemed to be imminent!

If I fail, I will probably be given the posthumous title of the King of Li! Zhu Houxuan suddenly thought in a trance.

This is the darkest moment in Zhu Houxuan’s twenty-one years of travel!
But the next moment, Zhu Houxuan's eyes became firm. He turned around, looked at the people accompanying him with a resolute look, and said in a sonorous tone: "We must capture the capital! The sooner the better!"

Everyone was confused by Zhu Houxuan's words and didn't know what to say for a moment.
"We must capture the capital as quickly as possible! Whether Your Majesty is alive or dead, we must take Your Majesty back." Zhu Houxuan continued.

After hearing this, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Hahaha!" A man suddenly laughed. "Your Highness, it's so easy for you to say that. You really do what you want. Yesterday you were still thinking about how to defend Tangshan, and today you are planning to capture the capital! That's the capital! There are 7 guards and Beijing camps! A total of troops are in it, equipped with the most advanced weapons and equipment we have made. What can we use to attack? Are we going to hit them with our heads?" Everyone present looked at the person who was speaking in surprise and doubt. It turned out to be Du Yongliang, the Deputy Minister of Public Security. He obviously couldn't bear the huge pressure and collapsed. He became crazy and even started to speak rudely to Zhu Houxuan.
The Imperial Guard had a strength of 15 men, of which 5 were stationed in the Western Regions, 2 in Hetao, 1 in the Northeast, 2 went to the southern expedition to Jiaozhi, and 2 were in the capital. In addition, there were 7 troops left over from the disbanded Beijing Camp, so there were a total of men in the capital.

"Du Yongliang! What nonsense are you talking about?" Chen Hong scolded immediately.

Others also need to reprimand out loud.

Zhu Houxuan raised his hand to stop them. He said expressionlessly: "Let him speak!"

"Do you know what 5 guards mean? guards roamed thousands of miles in the Western Regions and destroyed countless countries!" Du Yongliang acted even crazier, but what he said was still very organized.

"And what do we have? The only military force we have is more than 1000 armed police forces and those militiamen who have only been trained for two days. How can we fight the battle-hardened Guards with these people?"

"We can't even stop the rebels in the capital from spreading the news outside. As long as they send out 500 cavalry, we can't stop them from spreading the news," Du Yongliang said painfully, holding his head.

Everyone was silent. Although Du Yongliang acted crazy, every word he said was to the point.
"Don't you understand? Without the protection of His Majesty, without the protection of military and political power, we are just a fat sheep to be slaughtered at will!"

"Don't you understand? Those rebels have transferred all the guards into the capital. They don't even bother to attack us, and they don't take us seriously. They think we will just be able to control them at their command in the future."

"Don't you understand? We have already been defeated! Completely defeated! We will all die, no one can escape, and we will be infamous in history books forever."

"This is all your fault! It's all your fault!" Du Yongliang pointed at Zhu Houxun and shouted, "What did you get in 14 years as regent? What did you supervise? You've become a dog!"

Everyone hurriedly grabbed Du Yongliang to prevent him from getting close to Zhu Houxuan.
Facing such humiliation from Du Yongliang, Zhu Houxuan actually laughed.
(End of this chapter)