Zhou Xian led Zhou Gan into the house, Meng Yue poured him a glass of water and listened to him telling everything he knew intermittently.

Zhou Gan didn't know much, but Zhou Xian understood the main meaning. After listening, Zhou Xian frowned. After a long time, he looked up and asked, "Which generals are currently guarding the four inner gates of the Forbidden City?"

Zhou Gan shook his head and said, "I came in a hurry and didn't ask my generals carefully. I only knew that the Ximen was led by General Li Gan, and the South Gate was guarded by Xiong Tong, deputy general of the Imperial Guard. As for the other two gates, although I don't know who it was, they must be the imperial guards generals trusted by Gao Qiqian."

Zhou Xian nodded gently and asked, "Will General Li Shen bring me other words?"

Zhou Gan responded: "General Li Gan said that he was ordered by the emperor to guard the city gate. Even if he knew that the young master was innocent, he would not let you enter the palace before he received the order. His meaning was to let the second master wait until dawn. As long as nothing happened during this period, Gao Qiqian's slander would be defeated without attacking."

Zhou Xian's face was calm and did not express his opinion immediately.

The General of Li Gan mentioned by Zhou Gan was Li Yulan. When he was in Jinzhou, Zhou Xian had a relationship with him. At that time, he and Ma Shaoyu went to Liaodong to negotiate with the Qing Dynasty, and went to Jinzhou with the latter to propose the peace talks of Huang Taiji. Zhou Gan joined the army in the Beijing camp and was affiliated with the imperial guards, and happened to be his subordinate.

Li Yulan was ordered by Gao Qiqian to ambush Zhou Xian, but he obviously did not want to do that. He didn't know where he knew the relationship between Zhou Gan and Zhou Xian, so this time he asked Zhou Gan to inform Zhou Xian.

Zhou Xian thought that he and Li Yulan were just nodding and did not have too deep contact. At such a moment, it was a blessing that he could ask Zhou Gan to come and notify him, and then expect him to provide other help, which was a special luxury. Therefore, when Zhou Gan heard Zhou Gan say that Li Yulan would not let him enter the Forbidden City, Zhou Xian was not disappointed. But the current situation was very unfavorable to him no matter how you look at it.

Zhou Gan saw Zhou Xian silent and was anxious, and said, "Second Young Master, let's listen to General Li Shen this time! I'll wait until dawn. I think the Jingying is very good, there is nothing, there are soldiers and generals. Even if Gao Qiqian is bold, he will not dare to come here to cause trouble for you. As long as we don't go out and survive tonight, Gao Qiqian will no longer be able to do anything to you."

Zhou Xian smiled bitterly. He thought that Gao Qiqian had been in charge of the Beijing camp for many years and planned all this again this time. At present, he should be careful to prevent him from being caught by him. But will all this pass peacefully until dawn? He couldn't help but imagine that if he had thought about it far and forced Gao Qiqian to stay, he would not have discovered any of this.

"Second Young Master..." Zhou Gan said again.

Zhou Xian looked up and said, "Gao Qiqian convicted me of a crime of treason, exactly the same as the one I convicted for Xue Lian. Now that he has made such a big formation, if there is no evidence in the end, the emperor will be the one who will be held accountable next. If I stayed in the Beijing camp until dawn, there would be no danger on the surface, but what I am worried about is that Gao Qiqian would not allow me to stay here honestly. I guess he must have some follow-up plans and can kill me directly, but I can't see it yet. Although General Li Shen's proposal is good, it is too rigid and not enough to cope with the current situation."

After listening to this, Zhou Gan's face changed drastically. "Second Young Master, what should we do now?"

Zhou Xian smiled faintly, poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip and said, "Wait first! Those two eunuchs came to the Beijing camp under Gao Qiqian's order. There must be some purpose. From them, we should be able to draw some inside information that we don't know yet. Let's hear what they say first, and then see how to deal with it!"

Zhou Xian rubbed the water cup and looked up at Zhou Gan and said, "By the way, Zhou Gan. How much did you spend the money I gave you last time? How many people do you have to trust in the camp you are currently in?"

Zhou Gan was stunned for a moment, pondered for a moment before saying, "It took about 30% of it! But when it comes to people who can be completely trusted, there are only the brothers in my camp. The others are all interest relationships and are unreliable."

Zhou Xian nodded gently, knowing what Zhou Gan said was about. He relied on money to make friends with others, so there was no trust at all. "As far as I know, except for those who were on duty on the day, the Imperial Guards must stay in the Forbidden City, the others will return home at night. The latter should account for about 50% of the total Imperial Guards. I wonder if this is true?"

Zhou Gan didn't quite understand why Zhou Xian was still in the mood to ask about this, and he looked puzzled, but he quickly replied: "That's right, and because there are many soldiers who have left the post, the number may be more than 50%.

The Forbidden City is the emperor's location, with the imperial guards and the total force exceeding 20,000. Even if 50% of them return home, at least 10,000 people remain in the palace. In an emergency, Gao Qiqian can still call the eunuchs in the palace to help defend themselves. In this situation, Gao Qiqian completely separates the connection between the inside and outside the Forbidden City.

Zhou Xian pondered for a moment and said, "If I asked you to gather these people, how many people would you gather?"

Zhou Gan was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly: "Second Young Master, I am a low-ranking soldier, and I can know some lower-class soldiers. At such a moment, I can't find many."

"Those hundreds of people should be fine!"

Although Zhou Gan looked embarrassed, he finally nodded and said, "The brothers I know all know where they live. In addition, they know that it should not be a problem to find three or four hundred people, but it will take time."

Zhou Xian nodded and said, "Although not many, it's better than nothing. I now need some uninformed people to prevent some possible accidents. No matter what means you use, you can find at least 300 people for me as soon as possible and ask them to come to Beijing camp with weapons. You can give them some benefits in advance, whether it is money or anything else, you can make a promise."

Zhou Gan stopped talking, bowed his hand and turned around and left.

Zhou Xian felt a little relieved and said to Meng Yue: "Meng Yue, you should rush to Xue Mansion now and let Zhang Huai and the others come here immediately."

Meng Yue nodded and left. Not long after, Ye Tongzhou pushed the tent and walked in.

"Have you asked?" Zhou Xian asked.

Ye Tongzhou frowned and nodded slightly. But he showed hesitation, opened his mouth, and said nothing.

Zhou Xian was surprised, "What's wrong?"

Ye Tongzhou was silent for a moment and said, "The two little eunuchs said that they came here to find people under the order of the high-ranking eunuch in the palace. In addition to them, there were four other people who had already gone to the fifth army camp and the Shenji camp respectively. Among the people they were looking for were the left governor Wen Yao, the deputy general Mao Chengming, and many other generals of Beijing camps of all sizes, with a large number of people, and they were all those who were mainly commanding the troops."

Zhou Xian changed color after hearing this, followed by an uncontrollable anger.

On that day, Emperor Chongzhen asked Zhou Xian who could use it in the Jing camp. Wen Yao and Mao Chengming were among the people he recommended. Wen Yao wouldn't care. After all, he recommended him at that time because his official voice in the Jing camp was very good. But Mao Chengming, Zhou Xian gave him a large degree of trust since entering the Shenshu camp, but he did not expect that he had already been in contact with Gao Qiqian in private. A feeling of being betrayed grew in Zhou Xian's heart, and his anger suddenly rose.

Zhou Xianteng stood up from the chair and walked out without saying a word.

Ye Tongzhou's face changed drastically, and he stepped forward to block Zhou Xian. "General, what are you going to do?"

Zhou Xian said in a deep voice: "Mao Chengming directly controls some of the troops in the Shenshu Camp. If Gao Qiqian plans something, he will definitely be an important piece. I must send someone to take him down now."

Ye Tongzhou said anxiously: "General, Mao Chengming has a smooth personality and is very good at being a human being. In Shenshu Camp, many middle and low-level generals were promoted by him personally. It doesn't matter if you punish a few generals from the other two battalions in Shenshu Camp because they didn't bring anyone. But if you deal with Mao Chengming here directly, it is likely to cause a mutiny in the entire battalion. At this moment, it is really impossible to be in chaos no matter what."

Seeing Zhou Xian’s angry face, Ye Tongzhou continued, "General, just when his subordinate interrogated the two eunuchs, Deputy General Mao sent someone to check. Although his subordinates had hidden themselves at that time, he must have made some preparations. If you go to find him at this time, wouldn’t you force him to make trouble directly?"

Zhou Xian slowly let go of his clenched fists, sighed softly, and sat back on the chair dejectedly. "What else did they say? What did Gao Qiqian let these people do?"

Ye Tongzhou frowned and said, "It's very strange. The two little eunuchs just said that Gao Qiqian asked these people to comfort their soldiers. No matter what happens outside, don't go out easily, and don't assist you in doing anything."

Zhou Xian looked puzzled and said, "What does this mean?"

Ye Tongzhou shook his head and said, "I am not sure about it either. But from their words, it seems that something big will happen tonight, and you must need these soldiers from the Beijing camp. As for what will happen, those two little eunuchs don't know."

At this moment, a light sound suddenly came from outside the door.

Zhou Xian shouted in a deep voice: "Come in."

A soldier walked in and bowed and said, "General, Uncle Wang, please go to the General Station immediately."

Wang Xiantong saw Zhou Xian and Ye Tongzhou coming over together and waved to them to climb the platform.

Zhou Xian looked into the distance in disbelief, and fires flashed everywhere in the capital, and smoke columns soared into the sky, as if burning everywhere, dyeing the entire sky blood-red. And as he looked, the fire was still gradually expanding.
Chapter completed!