At the same time, on the fifteenth day of the sixth month, in the capital, the heads of Shen Yicheng's government were still debating whether or not the person burned to death was Xiao Ruxun. At the same time, the martial law in the capital could no longer be maintained.
As early as the tenth day of the sixth month, the capital was forced to announce that it would no longer be under martial law. This was because the prolonged period of martial law had affected the lives of the common people, severely affecting their daily lives. The common people were extremely resentful, and the scholars and scholars were full of complaints.
In order to quell the anger of the people, Shen Yicheng had no choice but to compromise and lift the martial law in the capital. However, the city gates were still strictly guarded, and the common people had to undergo strict inspections to enter and exit.
The only good news was that after Chai Guozhu, the Army Commander of Ji Town, and Li Chengliang, the Army Commander of Liaodong, received the news, they both expressed their obedience, expressing their firm support for the decision of the imperial court and their loyalty to the new emperor.
They accepted the Imperial Court's rewards and consolation, and expressed that they would continue to fulfill their duties and be loyal to the Imperial Court.
In any case, this was what the people who came back to report said.
Coupled with the arrival of a new batch of grain from Jiangnan, the price of grain in the capital finally returned to normal. Shen Yicheng's government could be considered to have begun to stabilize the situation around the capital.
But in Shen Yicheng's mind, the riddle of Xiao Ruxun's life and death was still a problem.
He didn't really believe that the person burned to death was really Xiao Ruxun. Even though Xu Zuo had found the jade pendant, he still deeply doubted it.
The four corpses had been badly mutilated, and some places had even been scorched black. However, several extremely experienced coroner's examination had found a few suspicious points, so Shen Yicheng's suspicions deepened.
Shen Yicheng was extremely worried about the fact that no trace of Xiao Ruxun could be found after four or five days of searching. He could not even be sure if Xiao Ruxun was still in the capital or if he had used some secret method to escape.
For this reason, he had already begun to search the perimeter of the capital. He had the Imperial Bodyguard increase the intensity of the search, and he had also ordered that the passes around the capital be strictly inspected. He had also ordered that every officer at every level have a portrait of Xiao Ruxun. He would rather catch a hundred wrongly than let a single one escape.
But if Xiao Ruxun had already escaped from the capital, that would be the worst-case scenario, even though the possibility was minuscule.
Xiao Ruxun still had Myanmar as his base. There were also 30,000 elite Zhennan Army in Myanmar. Although it was not a big threat, if this army was not handled properly, it would be a big problem.
Fortunately, Yunnan's Inspector-General was an Inspector-General who knew how to use troops. In the past few years, he had fought against the barbarians of Dongwu Country several times. His achievements were not bad. Deng Zilong, who had been transferred to Yunnan's Commander-In-Chief after the Battle of Korea, was a veteran general who was also outstanding.
If the two of them worked together, they should have no problem dealing with the savage land of Myanmar.
Thus, after hesitating for a few days, Shen Yicheng took 200,000 taels of silver from Zhu Changluo's personal funds and sent it to Yunnan for Chen Yongbin's military expenses. He also allowed Chen Yongbin to mobilize the elite troops from Sichuan to assist in the battle and had Sichuan provide Chen Yongbin with rations so that he could pacify Myanmar in one fell swoop.
He had no idea just how shocked Chen Yongbin and Deng Zilong were when the news from the capital reached Yunnan. The two of them had been completely unprepared for this sort of abrupt event.
A new Emperor ascending to the throne?
Xiao Ruxun rebelling?
They were going to send troops to conquer Myanmar?
Both of them had their own ideas.
Chen Yongbin had been inspector-general of Yunnan for almost six years and knew the place inside out. He also had a deep understanding of the war that had taken place in Yunnan before Xiao Ruxun led his army to pacify the Dongwu Country.
He knew how much damage the nearly ten years of war had done to Yunnan. It could be said that all the essence of Yunnan had been used up in those ten years.
During those ten years, Yunnan had sent troops, money, and rations. It was not a very rich place to begin with, so the losses were great. After the war ended, Yunnan was also exhausted. It had just rested for more than three years and had just started to show signs of improvement. Now, the imperial court ordered Yunnan to send troops again?
Where was the money? The rations? The soldiers?
After Myanmar was used as a barrier in the south, Chen Yongbin trusted Xiao Ruxun's ability to lead troops, so he did his best to restore Yunnan's economy and people's livelihood. He did not pay much attention to the military. It was only after Deng Zilong took over as the commander-in-chief of Yunnan that Chen Yongbin handed over the military affairs to him.
Deng Zilong had only been in charge of reorganizing the military for slightly more than a year, and he had only managed to reorganize seven to eight thousand soldiers who could fight. However, Xiao Ruxun's Burma Town had thirty thousand elites under her command. That was the army that Xiao Ruxun, who was the best at training and fighting in the entire Great Ming Dynasty, had trained!
Although Xiao Ruxun was no longer there and had been executed, if the troops were to fight back with all their might, these seven to eight thousand soldiers would not be enough.
In order to reassure the people, Shen Yicheng told the public that Xiao Ruxun had been executed. Chen Yongbin was far away in the south of Rosy Clouds and did not know what had happened in Jingdu. Naturally, he believed it, but it did not give him much confidence.
As for Deng Zilong.
Xiao Ruxun, who had worked with him and was very close to him, had rebelled? Was he dead? Myanmar had become a rebellious town? His family was going to be killed?
What was going on?
The seventy year old general sank into a state of confusion.
After the messenger left, the two of them sat face to face. The atmosphere was very strange.
"Futai, isn't this a bit too sudden?"
Deng Zilong still could not accept this fact. "Xiao Zhennan has fought for the country for so many years. Why did he rebel? Why did His Majesty abdicate? Why did the new Emperor ascend the throne? Did it end with just an imperial edict? Is there nothing else? "
Chen Yongbin had some bad guesses, but he could not say too much in front of Deng Zilong.
"Old General, although I also feel very confused about this matter, this is an order from the imperial court after all. It is an official order with the national seal. It is reasonable and legal. If we do not do it, we will be disobeying the imperial order and giving others something to talk about. At this critical moment, we can't do such a thing."
Deng Zilong was quite helpless.
"This … I naturally know this, but the imperial court can't be unreasonable, can't they? There is only an order without explanation, this … "
What else could Chen Yongbin say?
The Imperial Court had always been unreasonable. The world of the Great Ming Dynasty was not conquered by reasoning. It was fought with a knife and a spear. Whoever had the bigger fists and the harder wrists would be the one to listen to.
"In short, we have to do what the imperial court has ordered us to do. As for the specifics, we can discuss it later. First of all, how many men can we send out now?"
Deng Zilong paused for a moment and said with a worried expression, "After the reorganization, we can move out immediately. At most, there will be no more than ten thousand soldiers."
"Not enough. How can ten thousand be enough? If we want to attack Burma Town, the Zhennan Army will have to surrender … Yunnan has long been exhausted. It has only been three years of recuperation and there has been a little improvement, but now we have to fight again! Sigh! "
Chen Yongbin shook his head. "Old General, you can put together some more. At the very least, we need fifteen thousand men. Otherwise, we won't even be able to intimidate them. I will send a letter to Burma Town and ask them to disarm and surrender. If they are willing to surrender, they can be spared from death and also save us the trouble of fighting."
Deng Zilong thought about it but had no choice but to swallow his anger and agree.
Chen Yongbin and Deng Zilong took action separately. Three days later, a new order came. Chen Yongbin was allowed to mobilize the troops in Sichuan to assist in the attack. He was ordered to send troops to attack Burma within a month and allocated two hundred thousand for military expenses.
Chen Yongbin finally felt a little more confident. He ordered Liu Gu, the commander-in-chief of Sichuan, to lead ten thousand soldiers to the south to assist in the battle.
Now, the two generals who had fought against Dongwu Country in the southwest had reunited again. However, the target of the attack this time was quite ironic.
Both Liu Gu and Deng Zilong felt uncomfortable and panicked.
It was no exaggeration to say that both of them had received Xiao Ruxun's care and kindness in Korea. Not only did they obtain many military achievements, but Xiao Ruxun was also willing to help them speak up in front of the Minister of War. It was because of this that they were able to gain a foothold in the local area after the war and be put in an important position.
The two of them had always remembered this kindness. When Xiao Ruxun was in Myanmar, she didn't forget to send them some gifts during Chinese New Year and they didn't forget to return the favor. Usually, they basically kept in touch with each other through letters, and their relationship had always been good.
Liu Gu and Deng Zilong had wanted to send the young men they thought highly of to the Zhennan Army to train and learn some real skills. Xiao Ruxun had also agreed to it.
However, in one night, their benefactor had become a traitor and was even dead. They were forced to attack Burma Town again. What would they think?
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