The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

Unofficial history is just that—unofficial history. Galdan didn't think too much about it. Once Kangxi figured it out himself, he would realize that the country was the most important thing.

Upon seeing Galdan put down his binoculars, Liu Weiqing immediately stepped forward to report on the events of the past two days, and then pushed Zhou Peigong to the front, displaying a look of utmost respect.

"Your Majesty, this is Zhou Peigong!"

"These scholars are really clever. Not only did they help us increase our manpower, they also recruited craftsmen, and in less than two days, they built a hundred siege ladders!"

Zhou Peigong?

Galdan suppressed his shock.

If Li Guangdi was a talent for assisting in governance, then Zhou Peigong was a military strategist with exceptional insight into people's hearts, capable of handling the military and political affairs of a region.

"Very well! We Han people are countless, with numerous fine steeds. How can we allow mere Tartars to rule the land? With Mr. Pei Gong's assistance, we will surely destroy the Manchus and restore our Han homeland!"

"However, since the great undertaking is not yet halfway complete, I will trouble you, sir, to serve as an advisor in the army and offer me strategic advice!"

Faced with Galdan's praise, Zhou Peigong was flattered. Regardless of whether Galdan was a Mongol or a Han Chinese, Zhou Peigong had only ever been a staff member in the royal court. He never expected to have such an extraordinary encounter.

"Pei Gong, we should be ready to die for you!"

At this moment, Li Guangdi rode up on horseback.

"Your Majesty, I have just circled Beijing. The inner city walls are very high, and we do not have enough cannons. With our flying thunder cannons, we are afraid we cannot even hold the walls. In addition, with so many people guarding the city, the chances of breaking through are slim!"

"I never expected that Kangxi wouldn't have fled, and that the Eight Banners would be so united. This time, I miscalculated; please punish me, Your Majesty!"

Li Guang was also embarrassed after speaking, after all, he had predicted that the nobles of the Eight Banners would drag Kangxi to Liaodong, but now the opposite was true.

"The fault isn't yours. With Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang mediating, those Eight Banner leaders won't necessarily turn against us." Galdan, however, didn't seem to care, and then revealed a mysterious smile. "But I do have a brilliant method to breach the city!"

This piqued the curiosity of Zhou Peigong, who had been pondering for a long time but still couldn't figure out a way to break through the city.

"Your Majesty, what ingenious method is this?"

Upon hearing this, Ouyang Jing, Subutai, and the others also showed expressions of curiosity.

Galdan suddenly looked at Wanyan Wu.

"The key to breaching the city lies with Wanyan Wu!"

What? My city has been breached?

How come I didn't know I was so amazing?

Upon hearing this, Wanyan Wu was momentarily confused.

"This humble general is nothing but a surrendered officer; how could he possibly breach the city's defenses?"

"The inner city walls are even higher..."

As Wanyan Wu was speaking, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he involuntarily looked towards Beijing.

"Your Majesty, the Plain Blue Banner is located to the right of Zhengyang Gate. You wouldn't be sending me to contact the Plain Blue Banner on the outskirts of the inner city and ask them to open the city gates, would you?"

Yan Wu's words left everyone still confused. The fact that the Plain Blue Banner was being suppressed by the Eight Banners was an internal secret of the Qing Dynasty and had never been made public.

Only Zhou Peigong understood the implication. "Your Majesty, you mean to send General Wanyan to Mancheng to persuade the families of the Plain Blue Banner to surrender, but how can they get in?"

"Even if we get into the city, the city walls are guarded by a mixed force of the Eight Banners; they won't allow the Plain Blue Banner to open the city gates!"

After pacing back and forth, Galdan said, "No, we just need to copy Wanyan Wu's letters and then shoot them all into the residential area of ​​Zhenglan Banner. Someone who's interested will naturally find them!"

"If Emperor Kangxi can't hold back and forces the Plain Blue Banner to rebel, then it will truly be a stroke of luck."

As Galdan spoke, he beckoned to Wanyan Wu.

"Write a few more sheets and combine them with the regular letters, attaching all of my plans."

……

As the sun set, Beijing began to darken, and the Eight Banners soldiers lit torches in the area from Zhengyangmen to Chongwenmen.

Five hundred archers swaggered to the moat, drew their arrows from their backs and fired, not aiming at the soldiers on the city walls, but shooting at an angle.

These five hundred men were all sharpshooters, capable of shooting three hundred paces with a 130-pound bow, and a large number of arrows fell into the residential area of ​​Zhenglan Banner.

Most of the soldiers stationed at Zhengyang Gate were new recruits and didn't know what to do, so they immediately rang the warning bell.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Fei Yanggu arrived on horseback, but the archers had already left. Seeing that the Eight Banners soldiers did not retaliate, he slapped one of them across the face.

"Don't you know how to set off firecrackers? Are they just for show?"

Just after a messenger left, a bondservant with a white-bordered flag stepped forward with an arrow.

"Commander-in-Chief, this was shot at the flag."

Feiyanggu immediately took it, unrolled the paper scroll on the arrow, and saw that it was written in Manchu:

"The Han army of 100,000 besieged the city, and the Aisin Gioro clan is of mixed blood. We, the Plain Blue Banner, have suffered greatly from oppression. The Emperor of the Han Dynasty and Tengri Khan promised that as long as we open the city gates and surrender, the Mongols will become our leaders, and the other Plain Blue Banner soldiers will be combined into the Han Army's Blue Banner Battalion, and we will be granted land and a kingdom in the Central Plains!"

Snapped!

After reading it, Fei Yanggu's veins bulged, and he slammed his hand on the arrow stalk. "Wolf-like ambition! Utterly wolf-like ambition! They actually tried to bribe the Plain Blue Banner! Quickly deliver this letter to the Empress Dowager and the Emperor! Be fast!"

"Also, inform Prince Yu to send troops into the city to collect arrows, and at the same time, keep an eye on the Plain Blue Banner people!"

"Yes, sir!"

The guards beside him dared not delay, took the letter, mounted their horses, and galloped towards the Forbidden City.

……

Inside Xiaosanyuan Hutong, many families of the Zhenglan Banner had already received the letter, but all the able-bodied men and women had left, leaving only some women, children and old men.

Their ideas differed, but the might of the Eight Banners remained, and in the end, not many people dared to go out.

Only the Wanyan clan members noticed something unusual in the letters because their Manchu script was different.

Judging from the punctuation above, this was written by someone from the Wanyan family, and specifically a direct descendant of the Wanyan family; otherwise, there would be no way they would know this secret.

Soon, all the male members of the Wanyan family gathered in the main house, that is, the courtyard of the clan patriarch. They were all over fifty or sixty years old, and more than eighty of them were all wearing armor.

Batu, the chieftain of the Wanyan clan, was about sixty years old. He had changed into a set of plain blue banner cloth armor. Seeing that everyone had arrived, he tore open a letter, which turned out to be two layers of paper folded together.

"I suspect this letter was written by Wu'er. That's why he knows so much about where his hometown is. According to his instructions, we should act according to the Han Emperor's plan and assist the Han army in attacking the inner city!"

"The Han emperor promised that afterward, my Wanyan clan would establish a state, and this document also bears the Han emperor's own handwriting."

"This letter was definitely sent more than once, and eventually it will reach Kangxi's hands. At that time, my Plain Blue Banner will still be purged, especially the male members of my Wanyan clan, who have already been divided into various banners and are powerless to resist. It is possible that a hundred years from now, the surname Wanyan will disappear!"

"Those who are willing to act, go back immediately and gather all the women, children, and bondservants to follow me in storming Chongwen Gate. As for those who are unwilling, the Wanyan family will not blame you."