"My Lord Duke, we are assisting the state!"
"If the realm has long been peaceful, with no external threats or internal strife, then we would naturally not advise you this way. But the realm is not yet unified, how can a three-year-old child shoulder such a great responsibility? The realm will be in peril then!
This is the righteousness of the realm, it cannot be defied!"
"Your subject, greets His Majesty!"
"Long live His Majesty, long live, long live, long live!"
Xu Qinghe persuaded him a few more times before immediately kneeling, directly addressing Duke Anguo as His Majesty. The other generals who had harbored similar thoughts also voiced their agreement.
This scene was not much different from the "yellow robe" ceremony.
This time, Duke Anguo did not refuse further. He merely let out a long sigh and said with great helplessness:
"Alas, for the sake of the common people, I can only betray the late Emperor's grace and contend for the throne.
However, the infant is ultimately innocent.
When we enter the capital, you must not slacken or harm His Majesty. If the Empress Dowager does not resist, then harm her as little as possible. Perhaps this can fulfill the grace between the late Emperor and myself.
Have you all understood?"
"Understood, Your Majesty is benevolent..."
Those around immediately echoed.
"Qinghe, what should we do next?
The original plan was that if they refused us entry to the capital, we could directly call out, saying the court was not keeping its word, wanting to embezzle the rewards, or even wanting to discard us after we served our purpose, directly denying our military merits.
But now they have directly brought the rewards.
They have also brought the appointment letters from the Ministry of Revenue.
This excuse is no longer valid.
Qinghe, do you have any new ideas?"
Because the current reality differed greatly from the initial plan, even though Duke Anguo had decided to rebel, the specific plan had to be altered.
He was not skilled in this area.
Therefore, he could only rely on his strategist, Xu Qinghe.
"Your Majesty, there are many actions we can take next, but to maximize our benefit, I have only one suggestion: immediately detain and imprison the officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel sent by the court.
Then, Your Majesty can personally reward the army.
Concurrently, Your Majesty can summon the generals in the army to explain the situation. As long as the generals can be persuaded, they will naturally lead their soldiers to follow Your Majesty.
And Your Majesty need not worry too much about this.
As long as Your Majesty is generous with rewards.
I am confident in persuading most of the generals.
Then, we can proceed directly to the capital.
In addition, Your Majesty can immediately send carrier pigeons to transfer tens of thousands more soldiers from the armies currently suppressing the border, and I believe it will be foolproof!"
Xu Qinghe had long harbored the intention of instigating Duke Anguo to rebel, so naturally, he had privately contacted generals, which was the source of his confidence.
The other advisors and deputy generals also felt his proposal was sound and indeed the best option at present. Since they could no longer raise an army righteously,
they could only offer benefits and unite the hearts of the people.
Therefore, they then proceeded to negotiate what specific benefits to offer, and to discuss whether to directly attack the capital upon the army's arrival or to lay siege first.
And continue the siege after the reinforcements arrived.
While they were discussing, the officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel who had been dispatched had already completed the bestowal of honors, even distributing the prepared appointment letters from the Ministry of Revenue and dismissing quite a few people.
The reason for their speed was naturally that they did not bestow honors one by one.
Instead, they summoned all the generals first.
They distributed all the appointment letters for the generals, confirmed how many soldiers they had, gave them and their soldiers the silver they were due, and instructed them to distribute it themselves and to immediately lead soldiers from their hometowns back home.
After completing ancestral rites at home, they were to take up their posts.
Finally, it was stated that this was similar to returning home for ancestral rites after passing the imperial examinations, as one could not travel incognito after achieving success.
This approach naturally sped things up immensely. All the generals who received appointments and rewards were very satisfied, even feeling as if their ancestors' graves had sprouted smoke.
Most importantly, to avoid prematurely exposing their ambitions, neither Duke Anguo nor Xu Qinghe had informed the generals in advance that they were rebelling. The reason used to lure them was to receive rewards.
If it were just about money, they might have continued to serve Duke Anguo with their lives. But now that they could become officials, and even officials in their hometowns, who would want to continue fighting and risking their lives? It was certainly more comfortable to return and be an official.
Therefore, with the efforts of those officials.
By the time Duke Anguo and his group finally finished their discussions, and believed that the minor officials from the Ministry of Revenue and Personnel had not yet distributed much silver, and were preparing to act against them.
More than half of the thirty thousand strong army had already dispersed.
However, by the time they discovered this situation, the momentum had clearly reached a point of no return, so no matter how angry and uneasy Duke Anguo was.
He could only continue with the original plan, continue to detain those Ministry of Revenue and Personnel officials, and continue to contact the remaining generals, promising benefits and instigating rebellion.
As for the generals who had already left.
It was impossible to chase them back. They could only console themselves, thinking that they were old subordinates, and as long as he successfully captured the capital, with them serving as officials in their regions, they would likely not rebel.
They might even help him suppress the local areas.
With this thought, Duke Anguo and the others felt slightly more at ease and continued according to Xu Qinghe's original plan.
The only change was.
They could not rush to attack the capital upon arrival. They could hold a stalemate for a period of time, giving the border troops, who had been ordered to rush over via carrier pigeon, some time.
Then, they would attack together once those soldiers arrived,
to completely secure victory.
Of course, those Ministry of Revenue and Personnel officials who had been dispatched had long been prepared for the possibility of danger to their lives, so they did not panic after being detained. Furthermore, not all of them had come; they had left a few people lurking not far away. If they could not contact these lurkers in a timely manner, it would mean something had gone wrong.
Those lurking officials would immediately send carrier pigeons back to the capital to warn them to prepare.
And then, it was naturally a race against time.
Pigeons from both sides were racing back to the capital to warn of the situation, while also racing to the border, ordering their trusted contacts there to quickly mobilize some soldiers and rush to the capital to provide support and complete this coup.
In addition to this, Duke Anguo's remaining soldiers.
Were also racing to the capital.
As for the capital, they were also racing to gather forces and prepare defenses. It was not until midnight, when carrier pigeons brought the relevant information, that the frantic work began overnight.