Time Travel to 1859: The Iron-Blooded Soldier King

However, no matter how much they blamed Duanhua, now that the deed had been done, Sushun could swear freely because he was their leader and the two were brothers. What else could anyone do? No one could bring themselves to curse at a prince!

Jiao Youying said in a sinister voice, "Mr. Su, I feel something is amiss. Our information must have been leaked. Otherwise, this wouldn't have happened! It seems the West Palace has been prepared for this!"

Sushun was horrified. Could there be a spy among him? Who? Wang Huanzhang? Impossible. He was the one who came up with the plan. Who else could it be? Those around him were all his trusted confidants!

Sushun gritted his teeth and whispered, "Everyone, be careful. There may be accomplices from the two palaces around us. Everyone, go back and investigate thoroughly. We must not let the two palaces know of our every move in advance!"

Everyone was also shocked and nodded.

Sushun continued, "Now that the decree has been issued, the military power in the capital should be handed over. The military power in the imperial court must be kept under my tight control. Lord Mu Meng, my brother is not familiar with military affairs, so I will have to rely on you to take care of the imperial court's infantry. From now on, we must train the troops rigorously and make sure to improve their combat effectiveness as much as possible. If an incident occurs, we will be able to gain an invincible position with the troops at hand!"

Mu Meng responded, "Okay, Su Zhongtang, I will cooperate with the prince on this matter."

Sushun continued, "Brother, immediately issue orders to mobilize the Baoding Town troops and move them towards Rehe. We must firmly control Baoding Town. I don't care whether you spend money to show your favor or kill people to establish your authority. In short, you must win over the people below, no matter what the cost!"

Du Han said, "Everyone, the problem we are facing now is the issue of the late emperor's coffin. When will it be returned to the capital? It is not a big deal if it is always delayed like this. We will face increasing pressure!"

Sushun was also in a dilemma. Return to Beijing? All preparations were not yet complete. If he returned rashly, once the princes and the two palaces joined forces, he would be in an even more passive position. After all, they did not have the seal in their hands. Without the seal, the orders of the Grand Council could not be issued. The eight regents were in danger of being completely sidelined!

After a long pause, Sushun finally said, "There's no good solution right now. Let's just delay for a few days and seize the troops in Baoding Town. Baoding Town has half of the Firearms Battalion, plus the existing Beijing Battalion. With the military force we control, we can control the entire capital area. Then, even transporting the coffin back to the capital won't be a problem. With all the power in our hands, who would care about a bunch of powerless princes?"

Sushun thought too simply. Are things really as simple as he thought?

Beijing City, soon, one of the groups arrived.

Prince Chun Yihuan took office and became the new commander-in-chief of the Infantry Commander's Office. Yihuan and Emperor Xianfeng were related by blood. His elder sister married Xianfeng, the famous Empress Dowager Cixi, and his younger sister married Prince Chun Yihuan. Even if Yihuan was stupid, he knew at this time that he had to cling to the Empress Dowager's thigh. After all, she was his sister-in-law, a close relative. With such a relationship as the wife, what problems could be solved easily? Look, the Empress Dowager had just obtained the seal and got herself a position as the commander-in-chief of the Infantry Commander's Office!

Prince Chun was overjoyed. Prince Gong, who was standing beside him, said with a smile, "Seventh Brother, are you happy now?"

Yihuan laughed and said, "That's right. I didn't expect that he would become the head of the Infantry Commander's Office so quickly. It's not easy to seize power from Sushun and his brothers."

Prince Gong laughed and said, "You think it's so easy to get this commanding position? You're wrong. I don't know how much effort the two Empress Dowagers put into this. Now the government is controlled by Sushun and his faction. Is it that easy to get Duanhua to give up the commanding position?"

Yizhen was stunned and asked, "Sixth brother, what do you think?"

Prince Gong replied, "Seventh Brother, the Empress Dowager paid a huge price for this position. For this position, Liu Ye even gave up the two thousand brave soldiers in Baoding Town. You see, the Beijing Infantry Yamen is now just an empty shell. Compared with Baoding Town, no, there is no comparison at all! It's just a pile of shit! It's useless!"

Yihuan blushed and asked, "Sixth brother, do you know all this?"

Prince Gong said angrily, "Isn't that nonsense? I was the one who arranged this matter. Otherwise, do you think you would be blamed? Pay more attention. Our kingdom is now controlled by outsiders. We must take it back! Do you understand? After you take office, replace all those disobedient people in the Infantry Office with your own trusted aides!"

Yihuan grinned and hesitated, "Sixth Brother, if I replace all of these with my own people, I don't have that many. What should I do if I don't have that many confidants?"

Prince Gong was so angry that he laughed and scolded, "Are you stupid? If there aren't that many people, then just move them all to another place. Once they move, they won't even be able to sort out their own internal affairs, so how can they have time to mess with you? Go ahead and do what you want. No one can stop you now!"

Yihuan quickly laughed and said, "Yes, Sixth Brother, I'm not as skilled as you are. I'd appreciate your guidance. What should we do next?"

Prince Gong said in a deep voice, "Unite the other princes in the capital and put pressure on Sushun to bring the late emperor's coffin back to the capital for burial as soon as possible. Firstly, it's not a good idea to keep dragging it out like this. Secondly, only when they return to the capital will we have a chance to deal with them. Now Sushun and his gang occupy Rehe and have 20,000 troops under their command. No matter how hard we try, we can't threaten them!"

The next day, Yihuan summoned nearly all the princes in the city and jointly petitioned the Emperor in Rehe, requesting that the late emperor's coffin be returned to Beijing so that the young emperor could hold a formal enthronement ceremony there as soon as possible. After all, Beijing was the true capital. What was the point of him staying in Rehe? Furthermore, Yihuan, on a whim, even proposed going to the imperial court to express his gratitude to the new emperor in person and to welcome him southward!

Sushun and others became even more furious. This Yihuan actually got so angry so quickly that he summoned more than a dozen princes in Beijing in one breath to jointly put pressure on Rehe. He really should not be underestimated!

Of course, if it were just these, they would not be too confused. The key problem finally appeared, that is, Prince Gong Yixin, the first prince of the Qing Dynasty, finally showed up and personally asked for permission to offer sacrifices to the spirits on behalf of the kings in Beijing and to wish the emperor good health.

This time they finally couldn't hold on any longer. Whether to go back or not was a small matter, but if they refused Prince Gong's request to go north, they would probably be criticized by all the civil and military officials in the court for their evil ambitions.