Plan to cut off the nine states

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Lou Chu no longer had to live in the imperial city. He went to Zishi Garden every morning to wait for orders, and returned to his new home in the afternoon to make preparations for the wedding. In fact, there was nothing he needed to do, but the emperor specially gave him leave and said in front of many attendants: " My niece is a bit spoiled, but fortunately she is young and has a chance to correct herself. After Wanglouqing marries her, she will teach her more to balance Yin and Yang and prevent Yin from becoming stronger and Yang from declining. "

Because of the emperor's few words, Lou Chi received a large number of extra gifts that day.

In the evening of this day, the staff Qiao Zhisu came back from outside the city. He came to visit the building and gave him a personal gift. He also brought a message: "Shen Mu Shou did not return to Beijing. It is said that he had already set off. He suddenly fell seriously ill on the way. He had no choice but to leave." Stay in Bingzhou to recuperate, send your eldest son Shen Cong to plead guilty to the imperial court, and arrive early tomorrow morning."

Among the people around the general, only Qiao Zhisu was aware of the danger and had similar ideas to Lou Chu. However, he did not dare to speak to the general and just watched from the sidelines. He occasionally talked with Lou Chu in private, always shaking his head to express his helplessness.

"Of the six ministers and the four kings, only Shen Mushou refused. The others have returned to the capital. King Guangling is the slowest. He has also entered Luozhou and will arrive in Beijing the day after tomorrow." Qiao Zhisu shook his head again, "In the past ten years, the six ministers The four kings may stay in the capital, or they may control one side, and the situation inside and outside has been completed. Your Majesty will bring back all of them, and I am afraid that the old grievances will also be brought back. "

"I know that the Lou family is at odds with the Huangfu family and the Lan family, and is on good terms with the Shen family. Prince Guangling is at odds with the other three kings, and is related by marriage to the Cao family of Duke Xiao. The Cao family is also at odds with the Xi family of Jingzhou." Lou Chu understood. The general situation that has been circulated for a long time.

Qiao Zhisu smiled and said: "In detail, it is much more complicated than this. If we only focus on the key points, it is quite simple. In fact, there are only two lines. One is King Guangling. He is the younger brother of the late emperor. He was quite favored at the beginning. He was so popular that he was almost made the crown prince, but in the end he failed and left many grievances. The other one is the general..."

Qiao Zhisu suddenly shut up.

"What's wrong with the General?" Lou Chu asked, "I've often wondered that the General has great achievements and doesn't seem to have many friends. Apart from the Shen family, he has very few contacts with other important ministers. Mr. Qiao can speak out if he has anything to say. There’s no need to be shy, I’m not the kind of person who talks nonsense.”

Qiao Zhisu smiled and said: "Speaking of which, the grudges between the Lou family and the Seventeenth Young Master's biological mother are somewhat related."

In the past, Lou Chu would have been cold-faced or not answer the question, but these days he frequently heard people mentioning his mother, but there was always a preface without a follow-up, which made him both annoyed and curious, so he said: "Mr. Qiao But it doesn’t matter, I also want to know what happened.”

Qiao Zhisu hesitated for a moment. Seeing that Lou Chu really wanted to know, he slowly said: "Tiancheng - it was still Dacheng at that time. The last place to be conquered was the Kingdom of Wu. The general was in charge of the army, with Huangfu Kai and Cao Shenxi as his deputy. , King Guangling succeeded him. The court originally thought that the battle would last three to five years, but unexpectedly, the country of Wu was already in decay and was vulnerable to attack. The general marched in and attacked the capital of Wu in just over half a year. "

Qiao Zhisu was already a staff member of the general at that time. He was not yet thirty years old and he remembered the past events very clearly.

After pouring the tea, Qiao Zhisu thanked him and continued: "I didn't expect that King Wu actually refused to surrender and led his soldiers to defend the city. The general fought a very difficult battle with numerous casualties until King Guangling's reinforcements arrived. After that, Wu Capital was finally captured.”

"I heard that King Wu committed suicide."

Qiao Zhisu nodded, "I was at the scene. The King of Wu stood on the palace gate, facing the Dacheng soldiers, and drew his sword to kill himself. Later, many rumors emerged, claiming that the King of Wu had said such and such curses. Every time the Wu people made trouble, The rumors will increase even more. As a witness, I can say that they are all false. King Wu didn’t say anything, he just committed suicide.”

Lou Chu tried to imagine the scene of his grandfather's suicide, but found nothing.

"After capturing the capital of Wu, the trouble has just begun. The general suffered a lot, and his soldiers hated the Wu people very much, so they urged the city to be massacred for revenge. The general agreed, but King Guangling objected, thinking that the world had been decided and it was time to follow the rule. Scholars and people should recuperate and recuperate with the world, and should not only increase the anger of the people."

"What King Guangling said makes sense. After the Wu Kingdom is pacified, the world will be unified. There is really no need to massacre the city." Although Lou Chu was the son of a general, he sided with King Guangling in this matter.

"That's what I said, but at that time, the general didn't have many choices."

"Why?"

"How should I put it... The Seventeenth Young Master has never led an army or fought in a war. It is probably difficult for him to understand what is going on in the army. I am just a spectator. Anyway, there are no outsiders. Let me use the imperial court as an analogy. Six ministers and four The kings were at odds with each other, even to the point of life and death, but they all served the late emperor, and the late emperor did not deliberately support or belittle anyone. The situation in the army was similar. When the generals fought, they all wanted to stay behind and win. We always want to strive for the greatest credit, and there is no end to the dispute. This is human nature, and no one is exception. "

"The general must straighten out the morale of the army."

"Yes, the reason why a general is a great general is that he can win over people's hearts and make them work for him."

"You don't have to massacre the city to win people's hearts, right? There are many ways to take revenge."

"Haha, the Seventeenth Young Master still doesn't understand. Revenge is only one of the reasons. For the imperial court, the world is unified, and it's time to recuperate. For the army generals, they will soon have to remove their armor and return to the fields. If they don't make money at this time, If it’s a big sum, there will never be another opportunity like this again.”

"The imperial court will definitely reward you with military merit."

"Dividing those rewards is better than nothing. In short, everyone wants to massacre the city, not only to avenge the killing of Wu people, but more importantly, to plunder the wealth that Wu has accumulated for hundreds of years."

Lou Chi didn't say anything.

Qiao Zhisu thought of the past again, and after a while he smiled and said: "Slaughtering a city is not an easy thing. It does not mean that soldiers can enter the city and rob it at will. The areas must be demarcated in advance and flags used to mark who belongs to each neighborhood. You Think about it, the streets are divided into rich and poor, and everyone wants to be rich and noble. The generals quarreled endlessly about this. It took more than a dozen of our staff to complete the division and ordered the generals to complete the division. Nothing to say."

"Where is King Guangling?"

"King Guangling was assigned to the northwest area of ​​the palace."

"he……"

"Hey, if you object when it's time to object, you can't deny the benefits you deserve."

"The general has been assigned to...Princess Wu."

Qiao Zhisu nodded, "Princess Wu's reputation has spread far and wide. It is a rare infatuation for the general to abandon gold, silver and jewelry for her alone."

Lou Chu couldn't say anything wrong with his father, but he couldn't agree with the term "infatuation" either.

"When the army returned to the court, the late emperor was furious when he heard about the massacre of the city. He asked the general to balance his merits and demerits, and rewarded the whole army, except the general." Qiao Zhisu couldn't say the next words.

"I know that Princess Wu once entered the palace." Lou Chu still wanted to know the truth.

"I don't understand what happened in the palace, so I won't talk nonsense. The general was very angry, thinking that King Guangling, Cao Shenxi, and Huangfukai secretly slandered the late emperor and lost the beauty he had obtained. In a rage, The general imprisoned two generals, whipped dozens of them, and prepared to lead his troops to attack the Guangling Palace."

Lou Chu was shocked, "This... this is a crime of treason!"

"It's unbelievable even to say it now. We, the staff, were all frightened at that time, but the lieutenants and generals didn't care about it. They attacked wherever the general pointed. The soldiers gathered outside the city, with thousands of people, waiting for the city gates early the next morning. When he opened it, he rushed in and went straight to the palace. I don't know who tipped him off. After the late emperor heard about it, he went out of the city to work with his troops before dawn. He publicized the general's achievements over the years and was named An Guogong. The meritorious officials were knighted. The general was the first person. ”

"Well done, late Emperor."

"No, we all admire it. As a result, the general felt guilty, dismissed his soldiers, and asked the late emperor to apologize. The late emperor called King Guangling to make peace between the two sides. He also called Huangfu Kai and Cao Shenxi to ask them to make peace. Apologize to the general."

"What are these two guilty of?"

"As a deputy general, it is a sin not to be able to comfort the commander, but to make him suspicious. In short, the general is very beautiful. A few days later, Princess Wu was also sent to the general's mansion. It is said that it was the idea of ​​the current empress dowager. Naturally, the general There are no complaints anymore. But after being humiliated, Huangfu Kai held a grudge and his status became more and more obvious. His hostility towards the general became more and more obvious. He was better off and would rather tolerate it, but never interact with the general again. "

"Bian He is not guilty, but he is guilty of having the jade. It is not the princess of Wu's fault that the general turned against her." It was difficult for Lou Chu to say the title "mother" in front of outsiders.

"Of course, the princess of Wu's reputation is even greater because of this, and the rumors are even stronger."

"What did she do in the palace that the Queen Mother and others will never forget?"

"I cannot know the secrets of the palace. As for those unbelievable rumors, there are few truths, so I won't mention them."

Qiao Zhisu was talking about generals, but Lou Chu was thinking about his mother. The country was ruined and the family was destroyed, and his father committed suicide. How did Princess Wu endure it all those years? How much pride and sorrow is there in the eyes that look at you? How much love do you have for his son who was forced to give birth? How much hate?

Lou Chu only met his mother a few times when he was a child, so he could not answer these questions based on his memory.

"The general and King Guangling don't seem to have much of a feud." Lou Chu said, avoiding the thoughts in his mind.

"The general doesn't hold grudges very much. As for King Guangling, with his ambition, he certainly doesn't want to offend important officials in the court. As for what he thinks in his heart, outsiders have no way of knowing."

"I understand what Mr. Qiao means, thank you very much." Lou Chu stood up and held his hands.

Having said this, Qiao Zhisu should not say any more words and did not dare to say them. He stood up and said with a smile: "Although it is an old story, it can serve as a lesson for today. I have followed the general for many years, and I have been trusted by him and received countless rewards. I don’t want to see a tall building collapse in one day.”

"Mr. Qiao's heart can be revealed by the sun and the moon. The unscrupulous son of the Lou family will never forget what he said today."

Qiao Zhisu left, and finally added, "Among the four kings, King Xiangdong is the most detached. If the Lou family needs help from the royal family, he has to be the one. It is difficult for the other three kings to have a close relationship."

After seeing off the guests on the floor, he thought about Qiao Zhisu's words repeatedly after returning to the house. As an aide to the general, he made it very clear: a general can only do great things when he is extremely angry.

How to make his father angry with the emperor is a problem.