Jinting Han people

Chapter 399 The Grand Marshal's Counterattack
At this very moment, the Grand Marshal's residence was still filled with a cacophony of noise.

The reaction from the secret agents was incredibly swift. As Sima Yi drove his carriage into the Changhe Gate, seeing they couldn't stop him, they decisively abandoned the palace gates and immediately went to the Grand Marshal's residence to deliver the message. Only a quarter of an hour had passed by the time the news reached Sima Jiong.

While the speed of communication was fast, it did little to facilitate swift decision-making within the Grand Marshal's office. When Sima Jiong received the news, he awoke with a start, changed his clothes, and summoned his advisors for discussion. The drawbacks of the Grand Marshal's massive office finally became apparent. Due to their high positions and heavy responsibilities, most of the Grand Marshal's advisors did not reside within the office but were scattered throughout the city. Therefore, it was difficult for them to quickly reach the office for meetings.

Sima Jiong found it difficult to make a decision on his own, and insisted on waiting until the first batch of advisors arrived before starting to discuss countermeasures. By this time, four quarters of an hour had passed since Sima Yi entered the palace, and Sima Yue, the Prince of Donghai, had openly set fire between Qianqiu Gate and Shenwu Gate, causing them to lose the opportunity to enter the palace immediately.

The first group of advisors to arrive consisted of three people: Dong Ai, Ge Yu, and Xun Kai, all of whom were highly trusted advisors of Sima Jiong.

Seeing that Sima Jiong had not yet made up his mind, Dong Ai immediately said, "Your Highness, the King of Changsha is determined to fight us to the death. We cannot hesitate any longer. Please give me several thousand troops. We must hurry to enter the palace! We must not let him seize control of the emperor!"

Xun Kai, however, remarked from the side, "Isn't bringing troops into the palace too conspicuous? Won't it invite ridicule from the world?"

Upon hearing this, Ge Yu immediately cursed from the side, "You swineherd! What time is it? Are you still afraid of gossip? The King of Changsha has already set fire to the palace gates! They're clearly here to take our lives! The only thing to do now is to fight to the death!"

Sima Jiong was initially somewhat hesitant, but upon hearing their words, he immediately found his backbone and repeatedly said, "Yes! Yes! I'll send troops right away!"

But that's how opportunities are; they're fleeting, and once lost, they're hard to get back.

Sima Jiong ordered Dong Ai to muster his troops, and then attempted to lead them into the palace. However, nearly half an hour had passed since Sima Yi launched his coup, and apart from the burning Shenwu Gate and Qianqiu Gate, all other palace gates were closed, making it impossible to enter the palace normally.

Faced with this situation, Dong Ai had not prepared any tools to break down the gate beforehand, not even the most basic siege ladder. Their only option to enter the palace was to knock on the gate from the outside. But no matter how much they shouted, tried to bribe or threaten, the palace guards replied with the same statement: "The Emperor has decreed that the palace gates are sealed. Without the Emperor's special permission, no one may enter or leave!"

More than an hour had passed since Sima Yi entered the palace, around 5:15 AM. Because it was deep winter, the sky was still dark, but most of Luoyang's residents were already awake. Snowflakes blanketed the sky, but could not drown out the clamor from the north of the city.

Experienced residents of Luoyang immediately realized that this was the sound of a coup d'état. Since Emperor Wu's death, this was the fourth coup in Luoyang, and they were very familiar with it. Without even waiting for the court to issue a martial law decree, they had already locked their doors and windows, barricaded the entrances with water vats, and then cautiously prayed inside, awaiting the end of this coup.

The silence of the common people only highlighted the helplessness of the Qi soldiers who were besieging the gate.

Left with no other choice, Dong Ai could only order his soldiers to block the palace gates before rushing back to the Grand Marshal's residence to report the matter to Sima Jiong.

At the same time, Sima Jiong finally learned of Sima Yi's military reorganization at Yunlong Gate. The two reports came together, which greatly angered him. In a fit of rage, he drew his sword and slashed wildly at the table, cutting it into several pieces.

He addressed the crowd, saying, "A moment of carelessness has led to the raising of a tiger that will become a menace! If I had known this would happen, I should have killed him at the meeting!"

Sima Jiong thought of Liu Xian again and said with even more resentment, "Liu Xian must be behind this! I've relied on him so much! If I catch him, I'll cut out his tongue, slice it up, and soak it in wine!"

Words alone cannot reverse the decline; to turn the tide, we must resort to force.

After so much time, most of the Grand Marshal's staff had arrived, but some were nowhere to be found. Although no one mentioned the reason, everyone knew in their hearts that these people must have felt that the Prince of Qi's power was waning, so they were unwilling to come and wanted to sever ties with Sima Jiong.

This further fueled Sima Jiong's anxiety. After venting his frustrations, his thoughts became even more chaotic. Already feeling helpless, he was now completely at a loss for what to do. All he could do was ask his advisors for help: "Given the situation, who can help me enter the palace and reclaim His Majesty?!"

A moment of silence fell over everyone. No one had ever anticipated such a dire situation before, and naturally, no one could come up with a solution.

Dong Ai then said, "Grand Marshal, the King of Changsha must have been planning this for a long time, and they have an inside agent in the palace! Even if we enter the palace, the situation will no longer be in our control. We must prepare for the worst!"

Upon hearing the words "worst-case scenario," Sima Jiong's expression darkened, and he asked in a low voice, "What do you mean?"

“I’m afraid we can’t worry about much else now. Since the Prince of Changsha has taken control of the palace guards, a major battle is inevitable.” Dong Ai pointed to the north and said, “The troops in our manor are probably not enough. We need to bring in the foreign troops from outside the city. If necessary, we may also have to withdraw the garrison troops from Mangshan and Henan!”

Everyone present was shocked upon hearing this. More than twenty days had passed since the King of Hejian declared war, and his vanguard had already reached the Xin'an line. However, for some unknown reason, after discovering the Qi King's Henan garrison, the Western Expeditionary Army Command did not advance first, but instead waited for something, halting its advance at Xin'an. This was enough to make the Grand Marshal's office nervous. In recent days, they had been discussing countermeasures, but unexpectedly, Dong Ai advocated withdrawing the outer troops!
The clerk, Cao Shu, immediately objected, saying, "We must not do this! If we mobilize foreign troops into the city, how will we defend ourselves if Li Han leads his army to attack?"

This drew echoes from their colleagues, who were more afraid of the Guanzhong army, which was already close to the capital, than of the King of Changsha, who controlled part of the imperial guards in the city.

However, Dong Ai couldn't care less about all that. He immediately stamped his foot and cursed, "You bunch of pedantic scholars! At a time like this, do you still have time to worry about other things? The Prince of Changsha has raised an army in this city, threatening the emperor. People are in a state of panic. If a real war breaks out, how can we possibly defend Luoyang!"

"The most urgent task is to recapture the emperor. After that, we don't need Luoyang anymore. We were going to retreat to Xuchang anyway!"

This still made Sima Jiong hesitate. He asked, "What if the Western Army takes the opportunity to attack Luoyang?"

Dong Ai said, "Let them fight! Gather our armies and fight to the death!" Knowing that Sima Jiong was weak-willed, Dong Ai deliberately provoked him, saying, "Where is that King of Qi who once championed righteousness and was the first to attack Zhao? If you dare not fight the enemy, why don't you abdicate and yield the throne to a worthy successor?!"

At this point, Sima Jiong finally made up his mind to mobilize the foreign troops into the city. He ordered Wei Yi, the Duke of Pingyin, to go to Xuanwu Field to mobilize the foreign troops, instructing him to transfer all the troops from Henan and Mangshan back to Luoyang. However, mobilization would take time, and during the waiting period, Sima Jiong still needed to take some action.

Dong Ai pondered, "No matter what, we must find a way to infiltrate the palace. We cannot allow the King of Changsha to do as he pleases inside. They set fire to the gates, but how long can they keep burning in this heavy snow? Sooner or later, a bloodbath will ensue."

So he volunteered, saying, "Grand Marshal, I will attack the palace gates first. You should immediately send someone to the armory to fetch bows and crossbows. The armory has more than a million arrows. We can overwhelm them with arrows!"

After receiving Sima Jiong's approval, Dong Ai left the mansion like a whirlwind, leaving everyone in the Grand Marshal's residence looking at each other in bewilderment. Sima Jiong had no better solution, so he ordered Xiao Huang Gongxiu to go to the armory and requisition arrows according to Dong Ai's plan.

To his utter astonishment, less than half an hour later, Lu Xiu sent word that the armory had also been captured. Over a thousand men appeared out of nowhere and immediately began firing arrows at his soldiers. Because they were inside the armory, these men fired without restraint, aiming wildly into the air. Arrows rained down like swans in the snow, burying them under their weight.

This was yet another piece of bad news; the series of bad news nearly drove Sima Jiong to the brink of collapse. He no longer had the strength to be angry; he simply buried his head in his hands, remaining silent and motionless on the table for a long time. After a while, he raised his head like a child who had done something wrong, staring blankly at the incense smoke curling from the incense burner beside him, seemingly unaware that someone was still there.

Some advisors even saw that as His Highness Prince Qi stared at the murky smoke, a few tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, and his whole body seemed limp, as if he had collapsed.

Seeing this, Ge Yu immediately went to Sima Jiong's side to shield him, and whispered, "Your Highness, there is still hope. It is not time to give up and admit defeat!"

Sima Jiong said in a low voice, "The failure is entirely my fault for being incompetent, so why drag everyone down with me?"

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Ge Yu suddenly raised his voice and said, "Your Highness, how can you say such a thing? Justice resides in the hearts of the people! In this world, among all the princes, is there anyone who is more concerned about the overall situation than you?!"

"It has been almost fifteen years since Emperor Wu passed away. So many powerful officials have come and gone in the court. Everyone can see clearly who has the country in their hearts and who doesn't! You may have had some shortcomings, but when it comes to public-spiritedness, who can compare to you?"

"Before we met you, we were just poor scholars from humble backgrounds. Among the powerful and wealthy in Luoyang, who knew our names?! It was you who made an exception and promoted us."

"We are not talented enough to match the strategists and warriors under the King of Changsha, but we understand the principle of repaying kindness and will fight the bandits to the death!"

Ge Yu's words were impassioned and inspiring, and the morale of the Grand Marshal's mansion, which had been somewhat demoralized, was boosted. In particular, those poor scholars who had been valued by Sima Jiong since their humble beginnings knew the principle that a subject should die for his lord's honor, and they all volunteered to fight.

Seeing this, Sima Jiong was moved and finally rallied from his despondency. He asked, "But the armory is now occupied by bandits. What should I do?"

One of them said, "Grand Marshal, I have a solution."

Sima Jiong was taken aback upon hearing this, for the voice was high-pitched and thin, unlike that of an ordinary person. He looked in the direction of the voice and discovered that it was Wang Hu who was speaking. Wang Hu did not hold a high official position; he was merely the Palace Attendant, in charge of the palace eunuchs. Since the Wei and Jin dynasties, due to the strict precautions taken by the Cao family, the eunuchs had declined and had long lost their prominent political status as they had during the Later Han dynasty. In the palace, they were only responsible for handling miscellaneous tasks.

However, Sima Jiong was always kind to people, and he treated even eunuchs with the utmost courtesy, which also qualified Wang Hu to participate in the meeting.

Sima Jiong was slightly disappointed, but he didn't want to offend Wang Hu, so he asked, "What plan does Wang Huangmen have? I'm all ears."

Wang Hu said, "Grand Marshal, back then, the brother of the King of Changsha, who was also the King of Chu, didn't he claim to have a secret edict and raise an army to rebel? The situation back then was even worse than it is today, but Empress Jia only sent one person from the palace to quell the King of Chu's army. Do you remember how she did it back then?"

Sima Jiong said, "Of course I remember. At that time, the Queen had the palace guards carry Zouyu banners, claiming that the King of Chu had forged an edict, which caused the army to scatter like birds and beasts. You mean..."

Wang Hu said, "Your Highness, you can also use the Zouyu Banner to repel the enemy!"

"The Zouyu banner is in the palace, and the King of Changsha has taken the emperor hostage. I'm afraid this is of little use." Sima Jiong's face showed a hint of disapproval.

Wang Hu said, "The armory is not in the palace. As long as I enter the palace and steal the Zouyu Banner, the Grand Marshal can use it to intimidate the bandits in the armory, claiming that you have reclaimed the emperor. Wouldn't the bandits in the armory then have no will to resist?"

"Good idea!" Sima Jiong suddenly stood up, paced back and forth a few steps on his seat, then approached and asked, "Wang Huangmen, how do you intend to enter the palace?"

Wang Hu cupped his hands and said, "Please take me to the north of the palace. There are some mulberry trees leaning against the palace wall there. It is obviously impossible for the army to enter the palace from there, but I can easily climb over the wall and steal a few banners by myself."

Wang Hu was a eunuch, and it was perfectly normal for eunuchs to be present in the palace; it certainly wouldn't arouse suspicion. This meant that there was great potential in taking the Zouyu Banner.

Sima Jiong, who had thought all hope was lost, was overjoyed to find his future suddenly bright. He exclaimed, "Lord Wang, if you succeed, I will surely make you a marquis!" He was so excited that he addressed a eunuch as "Lord." Wang Hu was also deeply moved. After bowing three times and giving Sima Jiong one last deep look, he headed towards the North Palace under the protection of his armored soldiers.

It was now the hour of Chen (7-9 AM), and the sky was no longer completely dark, showing some light. However, people still couldn't make out the shape of the snow and wind. The snow on the roads and eaves was a dull, dark gray, like burnt charcoal ash. Meanwhile, at Shenwu Gate and Qianqiu Gate, the two vermilion gates of the imperial palace completely enveloped by flames and dry firewood, strange creaking sounds began to emanate from the crackling heat, as if they were about to collapse with a crash.

(End of this chapter)