novelSusiti Chapter 137 The Reversal of Emperor Zhongzong's Rebellion!
Chapter 137 The Reversal of Emperor Zhongzong's Rebellion!
Chapter 137 The Reversal of Emperor Zhongzong's Rebellion!
Bright Peak is the headquarters of the Ming Cult.
At this moment, the once tranquil and sacred Bright Summit is being bombarded in turn by hundreds of breech-loading cannons.
The news that Zhang Wuji, the 34th leader of the Ming Cult, along with the Left and Right Protectors of Light and the Four Great Protectors, had died in the Forbidden City had spread throughout the entire Ming Cult.
The Ming Cult was leaderless, relying solely on the Five Wanderers of Bright Peak and the various Ming Cult flag bearers to barely keep things afloat.
But after several salvos from hundreds of rifled cannons, the very spirit of these Ming Cult members was completely annihilated.
Peng Yingyu, one of the Five Wanderers of Bright Peak, along with Shuobude and Tieguan Daoren, were instantly blown to pieces by a breech-loading cannon.
Zhou Dian and Leng Qian hid in the secret passage and were lucky enough to escape with their lives.
Xin Ran, the flag bearer of the Fiery Banner, and Yan Yuan, the flag bearer of the Earth Banner, attempted to lead their troops in resistance.
They are all flag bearers of the Five Elements Flags, each with thousands of people under their command, forming the core fighting force of Bright Peak.
But with only a few thousand men, how dare they attempt to charge against the Six Doors led by Zhuge Zhengwu?
Their fate, of course, was to be blasted into piles of minced meat by the fierce artillery fire.
After hundreds of cannons fired simultaneously, the entire summit of Bright Peak was completely flattened by the breech-loading cannons.
The remaining three banner leaders all hid in the tunnels, not daring to show their faces.
Zhuge Zhengwo raised his hand: "Cease fire."
Instantly, the breech-loading cannons that had been roaring all stopped firing and fell silent.
Zhuge Zhengwo watched intently, and after the smoke cleared, there was nothing on Bright Peak except for broken walls and ruins everywhere.
At this moment, the summit of Bright Peak was completely silent, and not a single living figure could be seen.
But everyone knows that there are many secret passages and chambers beneath Bright Peak.
There are still tens of thousands of Ming Cult members hiding in the secret passages and chambers beneath Bright Peak.
Zhuge Zhengwo sneered, "Not coming out?"
"You remnants of the evil cult, do you think you can hide like rats in secret passages and I can't get rid of you?"
"Iron Hand, have you prepared the poison gas?"
Iron Hand replied, "Uncle, everything is ready, and we can act at any time."
"Alright, found the secret passage entrance, pour poison gas into it!"
"Yes, Uncle!"
Tie Shou accepted the order and led a large group of Six Doors constables, carrying some kind of dried grass, running towards Bright Peak.
This type of hay is a plant mixed with other substances, and when burned, it produces a lot of thick smoke.
Furthermore, this smoke is highly toxic; inhaling it for more than fifteen minutes will cause unconsciousness and eventually death.
Iron Hand led a group of constables to light the dried grass at each exit leading to the secret passage.
Thick smoke quickly billowed into the ground.
Thick smoke quickly engulfed every corner of the tunnel.
The Ming Cult remnants hiding in the tunnels began coughing violently immediately after inhaling the thick smoke.
At the same time, the thick smoke made it difficult for them to breathe, and they felt dizzy, nauseous, and vomiting.
Some of them couldn't stand the toxic fumes and collapsed to the ground, struggling in agony before losing consciousness.
Some people, seeing that things were not going well, rushed out of the secret passage.
But after crawling out of the tunnel, they were met with a dark gun barrel.
"Bang!"
A flash of light came from the flintlock pistol as it fired a bullet into the skull of a remnant of the evil cult.
"Well----"
The remnants of the demonic cult didn't even have time to utter a scream before their deaths were swiftly ended.
Once you escape the secret room, you'll face the dark muzzles of the constables' guns. No matter how fast their martial arts are, they can't outrun a bullet that's right at your fingertips.
Staying in a sealed room and being forced to inhale toxic fumes is also a dead end.
Some people wanted to go out, while others wanted to run deeper into the secret passage.
Chaos erupted within the secret passage, with a cacophony of sounds emanating from it, including the clanging of weapons and desperate screams.
Interspersed among the sounds were the occasional gunshots of flintlock muskets.
An hour passed, and for a long time afterward, no one came out of the tunnel again.
Only then did Zhuge Zhengwo order the burning of the poisonous smoke to cease.
The group waited outside the tunnel for another hour. After the poisonous smoke inside the tunnel had mostly dissipated, Zhuge Zhengwo personally led a group of constables from the Six Doors into the tunnel to search for the remnants of the Ming Cult.
Zhuge Zhengwo entered the tunnel, and along the way, the ground was littered with the corpses of the remnants of the Demonic Cult.
The bodies were intact because they died from poisoning.
Some, however, were covered in sword wounds, because they had died at the hands of their own people.
Zhuge Zhengwo led the constables of the Six Doors to carefully search the secret chambers and passages of Bright Peak. Only after confirming that there were no more Ming Cult remnants alive did they return to the surface.
At Bright Peak, the headquarters of the Ming Cult, there were no survivors!
But I know that the Ming Cult's followers are spread all over the Ming Dynasty.
Destroying the Ming Cult's headquarters alone does not mean that all Ming Cult members have been completely exterminated.
Next, they will conduct a thorough investigation of Ming Cult members throughout the country, determined to execute all members of the Ming Cult!
At the same time, they must also be wary of the resurgence of the Persian Ming Cult and its renewed eastward expansion.
After all, the origin of the Ming Cult was the Persian Zoroastrianism.
The three Persian envoys—the Flowing Cloud Envoy, the Wonderful Wind Envoy, and the Radiant Moon Envoy—possess unpredictable martial arts skills and have defeated Zhang Wuji, making them formidable figures.
However, destroying the Ming Cult's headquarters at Bright Peak will also greatly dampen the Ming Cult's arrogance in the Central Plains.
Zhuge Zhengwo successfully completed the task assigned to him by Zhu Houzhao.
Without losing a single soldier, they annihilated the tens of thousands of remaining members of the evil cult on Bright Peak!
North Korea.
Just as Zhuge Zhengwo and others were purging the martial arts sects in the Central Plains under Zhu Houzhao's orders.
In North Korea, far to the northeast, a swift and unexpected coup d'état occurred.
The court officials from both the eastern and western branches of government, along with members of the royal family and former military commanders, joined forces to launch a coup against the current King Yi of Joseon.
On the evening of September 1st, Park Won-jong, the Chief of the Central Secretariat, Yoo Soon-jeong, the Chief of the Bureau of Personnel, and Yong-seong Hee-yeon, the Deputy Chief of the Bureau of Personnel, secretly contacted the Imperial Guards and the troops stationed in the capital region.
After confirming that the generals of these garrison troops were all obedient to his orders, he immediately summoned Shen Shouqin and Shen Shouying, the Left State Councilor in charge of military power, to the palace for an audience in Li's name.
Shen Shouqin and Shen Shouying were the brothers of Consort Shen, who was the mother of Consort Li Shouyi of Zhu Houzhao, and thus Consort Shen was Li Shouyi's maternal uncle.
As relatives of the emperor, they enjoyed Li's deep trust and were in charge of the imperial guards in the capital.
After the brothers Shen Shouqin and Shen Shouying arrived at the palace, Cheng Xiyan immediately ordered them to be executed.
Park Won-jong resorted to his old tricks again, summoning Lee's close advisor Im Sa-hong to the palace and executing him in Lee's name.
The reason why the palace guards defected at the last minute allowed Park Won-jong and others to so easily kill Shin Soo-geun and Shin Soo-young.
The reason lies in the fact that Park Won-jong obtained a warrant from Queen Dowager Jeonghyeon, which allowed him to manipulate the royal guards within the palace.
Most importantly, almost all the nobles and high-ranking officials in the court, whether from the Eastern or Western factions, whether civil or military, supported Park Won-jong's coup.
In the early morning of September 2nd, King Park Won-jong personally led his warriors into the palace. The chief eunuch, Yoon Jang, and others abandoned their master and fled, and the palace's inner guard collapsed.
Park Won-jong forced Yi to hand over the seal of the Joseon king and placed him under house arrest.
Queen Jeonghyeon then issued an edict demoting Yi to Prince Yeonsan.
At the same time, they welcomed Prince Jinseong, Yi Guai, into the palace as the new King of Joseon.
By the morning of September 2nd, the entire coup had been completed, and Yi Guai, in his capacity as King of Joseon, received the homage of the Joseon ministers in the palace.
Yi Yeok was the later King Jungjong of Joseon. This coup was known as the "Jungjong Restoration".
A coup d'état is that simple, quick, and direct.
If the king infringes on the interests of enough ministers, then when all the ministers oppose the king, the king has no means of resistance whatsoever.
The reason why this coup d'état by King Jungjong occurred was because after Yi ascended the throne, he launched two consecutive campaigns against the soldiers.
He greatly damaged the interests of the noble families and made the ministers in the court live in fear, lest they be killed by Li Yong on trumped-up charges one day.
So they struck first and deposed the king who had been opposing them, his noble ministers, at every turn.
Upon assuming power, Li Guai swiftly abolished a series of harsh laws that targeted court officials.
Furthermore, many new laws were enacted that benefited the court officials in exploiting the people.
Park Won-jong was directly appointed as the Chief State Councilor, above 10,001 people, and was granted the title of Prince of Pyeongseong.
Lee Guai had to consult with Park Won-jong before making any decisions regarding the affairs of the court.
What Park Won-jong supported, Lee Guai firmly supported.
What Park Won-jong opposed, Lee Guai resolutely opposed.
Their relationship was similar to that of Zhu Qiyu and Yu Qian in the Ming Dynasty.
After Li Guai ascended to the throne, he immediately executed all of Li's sons.
They could not harm Li Shouyi, who was married off to the Ming Dynasty.
After imprisoning Yeonsan and effectively becoming the King of Joseon, Yi Guai encountered another problem.
As a tributary state of the Ming Dynasty, the succession of the king of Joseon required the investiture of the Ming emperor.
If the Ming Dynasty had not officially recognized Yi Guai as the King of Joseon, then Yi Guai would have had no legal basis to rule and would not have been able to secure his throne.
Therefore, Lee Guai, Queen Jeonghyeon, Park Wonjong, Sung Hee-yeon, Yoo Soon-jung, and others gathered together to discuss countermeasures to address this issue.
Finally, they unanimously selected Seong Hee-yeon to represent Korea on a mission to the Ming Dynasty, seeking investiture from Emperor Zhu Houzhao.
So on September 5th, Cheng Xiyan set off for the Ming Dynasty, laden with all sorts of Goryeo treasures.
Cheng Xiyan traveled at a breakneck pace, and after a month and a half, he finally arrived in the capital of the Ming Dynasty on October 20th.
Upon arriving in the capital, Cheng Xiyan immediately went to the Court of State Ceremonial and requested an audience with Zhu Houzhao from the officials there.
On the second day, Cheng Xiyan and the others finally arrived at the Ming Dynasty court as they had wished.