The Grandmaster Strategist

On October 9, the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Emperor Yongwu, the emperor thought that the prince had rebelled against him and was unfilial. He decreed that the prince should be killed and buried with royal honors. He was not allowed to enter the imperial mausoleum and was given the posthumous title of "Rou".

——"The Biography of King Yongshi"

On October 5th, when Emperor Yong was on the road, Chang'an had already calmed down. After discussion, Zheng Xia and Shi Yu decided to continue to conceal the news. Therefore, although people in Chang'an were panicked, they still did not know what happened in the Hunting Palace. Change. On October 6th, Zheng Xia and several guards came to see him first. When Zheng Xia was having a secret conversation with Emperor Yong, I had already received the report. Although I didn’t know what they were talking about, I guess Zheng Xia was not Just a confused person.

Besides, Zheng Xia entered Yong Emperor's bedroom and saw that Emperor Yong was safe and sound. He was relieved. After the ceremony, Li Yuan quickly told what happened. He trusted Zheng Xia very much and told everything he knew in detail. He told Zheng Xia in detail. Zheng Xia was stunned after hearing this, but he was always good at making decisions, so he calmed down and asked: "Your Majesty, what are your plans?"

Li Yuan said distressedly: "I also have a very headache. The prince and King Yong are both my sons. Naturally, I don't want them to kill each other. However, King Yong almost died this time, and I was also almost killed. If we are not strictly investigated, no matter what No matter what, I can't explain it; but I have done something wrong with the prince today, and the queen once hanged herself. Although she was saved by the palace people, she was already dying. We have been married for many years, and I really can't bear it; and King Qi, this child has always been very affectionate. This is his strength and also his weakness. Now that he is involved in it, no matter how he handles it, it can only be said to be too light and too serious, but it cannot be said to be handled wrongly. His temper is so stubborn. I am worried that King Yong will be angry. Now, if you ask him to be imprisoned or deposed as a commoner, wouldn't this be embarrassing for me? And Prime Minister Wei, I heard from you that he is at ease in the capital. It seems that he really doesn't know about treason, but treason is a serious crime. If we are not involved, it would be outrageous. Zheng Qing, please think about this for me, what should I do?"

Zheng Xia looked solemn and said: "Your Majesty, from my perspective, it doesn't matter how you deal with these matters. What matters is how your Majesty gets along with Prince Yong and his son."

Li Yuan was shocked. After all, he had been the emperor for many years. He had vaguely thought about these thoughts, but Zheng Xia said it so straightforwardly. He was still a little caught off guard and couldn't help but glare at Zheng Xia.

Zheng Xia said without fear: "Your majesty treats me with great kindness. If it were not for your majesty and Dayong's country, I would not say these rude words. If your majesty is willing to listen to my detailed explanation, I will kill me." It’s also as sweet as glutinous rice.”

Li Yuan hesitated for a moment and said, "Zheng Qing, tell me. I know your loyalty."

Zheng Xia said solemnly: "Your Majesty, it is now inevitable that King Yong will inherit the throne. The prince has rebelled and should be deposed. King Yong has great achievements and is the oldest. No matter what the emperor plans this time, the throne is already in King Yong's pocket. In the past, in order to protect the crown prince, the emperor suppressed His Highness King Yong. King Yong inevitably had no resentment in his heart. Now even if King Yong wants to take the opportunity to seize the throne, few people will firmly oppose it. For ministers and others, loyalty is There is no difference between His Royal Highness King Yong and being loyal to His Majesty, but in this way, the emperor's status will be very embarrassing. If His Majesty personally deals with the prince and others, it is inevitable that there will be something that will cause King Yong to be dissatisfied. If King Yong has a grudge in his heart, that is Now that Your Majesty has kept the Crown Prince and the King of Qi, who knows what King Yong will do in the future after His Majesty's long live birth? If this matter is left to King Yong to handle, then Your Majesty will express his opinion politely, and King Yong will definitely not Regardless of His Majesty’s mood, by then His Majesty will be able to achieve his wish, and the estrangement between His Majesty King Yong and his son will be eliminated.”

Li Yuan lowered his head and thought for a long time, then stood up and saluted Zheng Xia. Zheng Xia was shocked and quickly avoided it: "What is your Majesty doing? I cannot bear it."

Li Yuan said happily: "Zheng Qing's kind words and hard words are all for the sake of my family, Li. If I and Prince Yong and his son are in peace in the future, the crown prince and Prince Qi can be preserved.

It's all your fault. "

Zheng Xia quickly apologized, and Li Yuan said with a smile: "I and Zheng Qing have been ministers for many years, and there is no need to be so cliché. Besides, although I misjudged some people, I did not misjudge Zheng Qing. I know that your outspoken advice is always the best." For my sake. But there are some things that I have to make decisions for you, what do you think I should do next?"

Zheng Xia said: "Your Majesty, do you want to keep the crown prince?"

Li Yuan said hesitantly: "Although the prince is unworthy, he is my flesh and blood after all. I am really reluctant to part with him."

Zheng Xia asked again: "What about His Highness King Qi?"

Li Yuan said seriously: "Although Xian'er values ​​friendship too much and is not worthy of being an emperor, I really cherish this son and I will never let Zhi'er hurt him."

Zheng Xia said seriously: "In this case, your Majesty should not protect the prince, otherwise it will harm the king of Qi?"

Li Yuan said in surprise: "How do you say this?"

Zheng Xia said: "Your Majesty, King Qi is not as good as King Yong in terms of political and martial arts, and he is not as good as King Yong in terms of the age of his concubines. Therefore, if there is no prince, then King Qi can be a general or a minister, but if the prince is still Now, no matter what, the prince is the eldest son after all. If the King of Qi and the prince join forces, there is a possibility of rebellion. Therefore, if the emperor protects the prince, and if His Highness King Yong reluctantly agrees, he will eventually be suspicious of King Qi. When the time comes, someone with intentions will alienate him. Sooner or later, The King of Qi will die in the hands of King Yong because of this. When the time comes, your Majesty wants to save his two sons, but he can't save either one. If the prince is abandoned, then His Highness King Qi will not be able to endanger King Yong's throne, and it will be easy for the king and his ministers to do so. Peace."

Li Yuan was silent for a while and said: "What Zheng Qing said is that in this case, I can't care about that traitor anymore."

Zheng Xia added: "This is from a personal perspective, but from a national law perspective, if the prince forces the palace to rebel and seduce the queen to be immoral, this is the crime of unfilial piety without a father and a king. It is unfair to pursue a murderous brother." How can we forgive the sin of brotherhood and being unfilial and disloyal? Your Majesty's inheritance is to be passed down to the ages. If we don't leave a warning for future generations and everyone follows this behavior, won't we make the flesh and blood of the Heavenly family kill each other?"

When Li Yuan heard this, he was horrified and said: "What Zheng Qing said is really the most reasonable thing in the world. Well, I have made up my mind to give the prince death. The queen should have given death. In consideration of the kindness between husband and wife for many years, I will depose him as a commoner." Let her fend for herself. I will leave the matter of King Qi to King Yong."

Zheng Xia solemnly said: "Your Majesty, in this way, we can not only warn future generations, but also convince King Yong. Moreover, King Yong will not be able to deal with King Yong's affairs too much."

Li Yuan felt clear in his heart and continued: "The disposition of the prince's family has been decided, and it will be treated as a rule from now on. There is one more thing. After returning to the capital, I want to make the eldest grandson my queen. What do you think of Zheng Qing?"

Zheng Xia was stunned for a moment, then immediately came to his senses and said, "Your majesty is wise, this is exactly how it should be." The monarch and his ministers looked at each other and smiled, understanding each other tacitly.

Zheng Xia knew in her heart that it was indeed a good idea to make Concubine Changsun his queen. Now it is obvious that Li Yuan will sit on the throne for a while, and the harem must not be left without a master. In addition, after King Yong succeeds to the throne in the future, he will also have a mother. Later she was filial, but now the Dou family has been deposed, King Yong's biological mother has died long ago, and Concubine Ji is a rebel, so only Concubine Changsun and Concubine Yan are qualified to be promoted to queens, but King Qi is also involved in the rebellion, and Concubine Yan is naturally lost. She is qualified to be a queen, and the imperial concubine Changsun has a distinguished status. Princess Changle has made great achievements this time. As the biological mother of Princess Changle, it is natural for the imperial concubine Changsun to be crowned a queen. And the best thing is that the imperial concubine Changsun is alive without the prince, so it will not affect King Yong's throne, so she can be the mother of the world. Li Yuan could think of this, which seemed to have paved the way for King Yong to ascend the throne, and he no longer had any scruples about King Yong. As a minister, Zheng Xia was naturally happy. However, this kind of thing could only be understood and could not be expressed in words. Naturally, the monarch and his ministers could only look at each other and smile.

After a while, Emperor Yong said hesitantly: "Zheng Xia, what do you think we should do about Princess Changle's love for Jiang Zhe?"

Zheng Xia asked cautiously: "I wonder what the emperor and King Yong mean?"

Li Yuan said dissatisfiedly: "Zhi'er once met me in private, hoping that I would grant a marriage to Princess Changle and Jiang Zhe. However, I saw that Jiang Zhe was scheming, weak and sick, and was really not a good match for Changle, so I already refused. However, Jiang Zhe made this decision Great merit, if I insist on not allowing it, it will be a bit cold to his heart."

Zheng Xia thought for a while and said: "It doesn't matter what I think about this matter. On the one hand, Jiang Zhe was once a minister of Southern Chu, and the princess was the queen of Southern Chu. Your Majesty's refusal to grant the marriage is also in line with etiquette and law. On the other hand, , Now Jiang Zhe is a minister of Yong Dynasty, and he has made great achievements in suppressing the rebellion. The princess is His Majesty’s beloved daughter and has a distinguished status. It is understandable that the meritorious minister is the Lord. It just depends on His Majesty’s wishes.”

Li Yuan thought for a while and said: "If Jiang Zhe is in better health, I will be able to fulfill Changle. But now I am really worried, so let's let it go first."

Zheng Xia saw that the night was getting late and Li Yuan looked a little tired, so he said: "Your Majesty, the matter has been discussed, why don't you go to bed first?"

Li Yuan smiled and said: "I have already figured it out. From now on, I will leave all major military and political affairs to King Yong. I want to live a comfortable life for a few years. Please don't leave yet. After drafting an edict for me, you can go and rest." "

On October 7, Li Yuan returned to Beijing and issued three decrees. One of them was to kill the prince, give him the posthumous title of King Violent, and depose the queen to a commoner. The second is to establish King Yong as the crown prince of the country, and all major military and political affairs will be decided by King Yong. The third is to make the imperial concubine Changsun the queen, and then officially hold the ceremony to establish the queen. In addition, if Princess Changle has passed the imperial edict, she will be rewarded with food for thousands of households, she will be given the title of Ningguo, and the Ningguo Princess Changle Mansion will be built for the princess.

The emperor's vigorous and resolute actions shocked many people. The government and the public either thought that King Yong took the opportunity to kidnap the emperor, or that Li Yuan was frightened and did not care about the government affairs anymore. However, they did not know that the biggest contributor to this matter was the servant Zheng Xia.

After King Yong took charge of the government, he began a massive purge later known as the "Cruel King's Rebellion Case". Tens of thousands of high-ranking officials and dignitaries were imprisoned for being involved in the prince's rebellion, and countless people were implicated. Frightened and uneasy, only a few caring people would discover that King Yong's purge was actually very well controlled. Most of the courtiers implicated came from powerful families. Although these families had made great contributions during the rise of Yong, they are now competing for hegemony. The annexation of land and even the private raising of armored soldiers hinted at the reality of separatist rule. This time, King Yong took advantage of the major rebellion and used his troops to destroy almost all of these powerful families. His methods are both strong and soft. He often treats the backbone members of the aristocratic families as traitors, exterminate them or imprison them. After all, these aristocratic families are inevitably related to Fengyi Sect and Wei Guan. However, civilians will not easily commit crimes. Thanks to the former Jinxiu Alliance and Fengyi Clan, many of these wealthy families have already been killed to pieces. In the name of a major crime, the major families are chilling. , did not dare to come forward, and it was even more convenient for King Yong to defeat them one by one. In one month, Dayong Chaotang had been completely renewed. The Youzhou officials brought by Shi Yu and those middle and low-level officials who were really willing to do things quickly restored Dayong's center. Normal operation, the blood washed away the dust on the Yong Chao Hall.

Among them, there is one type of officials who are the first to be purged, and that is officials whose wives and daughters are related to the Fengyi Sect. The lightest punishment for these officials is to be demoted and demoted. A slightly more serious punishment is to be dismissed from office, or even directly Going to court is also possible. Many Fengyi Sect disciples were originally rich ladies. Most of them entered Fengyi Sect to improve their status, so most of them immediately drew a clear line with Fengyi Sect. If such a woman can get the protection of her father, brother and husband's family, she will still They can live peacefully. Although there are many cases of people abandoning their wives and daughters, most of them can finally start a new life. However, if a woman is born into a poor family and is able to marry a court dignitary or a child of a wealthy family because she enters the Fengyi Sect, her fate will be much more miserable. She will either be divorced by her husband's family or be relegated to the cold palace. But when the slaughter was fierce, the sorrow and sorrow of these women were also covered up by the bloody purge.

King Yong was not always so ruthless. Some officials were formerly affiliated with the party prince or were under the sect of Wei Guan. As long as there was no obvious evidence of rebellion and no matter how talented they were, they would not be purged. However, under King Yong's purge, The last person to be implicated in the process is the military. King Yong issued an edict that the military officers and soldiers had made great contributions to the country in bloody battles, so no purging was allowed in the army. Even if some generals were found to be closely related to the Fengyi Sect, as long as they were willing to write a detailed letter of repentance, they would be fine. Get pardoned. Therefore, King Yong's iron-blooded purge not only did not endanger Dayong's foundation, but also strengthened the strength of the army, because many children of aristocratic families and people in the world joined the army to avoid being implicated in the Great Rebellion. After the crisis, Dayong's The military power has become stronger.

On October 9th, Zheng Xia brought poisonous wine, white silk and a dagger to the Jin'an Palace where the prince was imprisoned. This was the second time that the prince was under house arrest. Although Li An was also frightened last time, he With Wei Ying secretly taking care of him, and Fengyi Men, Lu Jingzhong and others running around outside, he finally felt confident. However, this time Li An had no one to rely on anymore. He huddled in the palace without food or tea, and he had only one breath left. .

Zheng Xia was about to go in when he suddenly saw a group of people coming from a distance. Just by looking at their lanterns, he knew they were from Prince Yong's Mansion. When he got closer, Zheng Xia saw at a glance that the leader was Jiang Zhe, and the person standing behind him was Jiang Zhe. It was the evil shadow Li Shun, and he was surrounded by guards and was heavily guarded.

Jiang Zhe stepped forward and bowed deeply, saying, "I have been ordered by His Highness King Yong to see the Crown Prince off. Please allow me your permission."

Zheng Xiayi frowned and said, "This is against etiquette, but is it the emperor's will?"

A trace of blazing murderous intent flashed in Jiang Zhe's eyes, and he whispered: "Your Majesty, I might as well say it bluntly, His Highness King Yong didn't know that I came here this time, but I used His Highness's gold medal to deceive the imperial army to come in. , I must see the prince this time, if the Lord Attendant does not allow it, then Jiang Zhe will have no choice but to force his way in."

Zheng Xia was stunned when he heard this. When he looked carefully, he saw Jiang Zhe's brows were filled with a look of peace. Although Zheng Xia abided by etiquette, he was not a stubborn person. He thought that this person would assist King Yong. Could it be that he is advancing on the prince because of some grudge between him and the prince? This man has a deep and vicious mind. If I insist on not allowing him to do so, and he holds a grudge, a big disaster will inevitably occur. If he harms me, that's all. What if? This person deliberately sows the father-son relationship between the Emperor and King Yong, and that is my fault. Thinking of this, he said: "Since it is the order of His Highness King Yong, I can also obey the authority. Jiang Sima will go in with me."

Jiang Zhe showed a trace of ecstasy and waved the guards to stay outside. He only brought Xiao Shunzi and followed Zheng Xia in. Zheng Xia originally had two brave and powerful eunuchs with her, originally to prevent the prince from committing suicide and let them do it. Help, looking at the situation now, in order to prevent the two eunuchs from seeing things they shouldn't see, Zheng Xia waved them to stay outside.

The three of them entered Jin'an Hall and saw Li An huddled on the bed. Zheng Xia couldn't help but sigh softly, but Jiang Zhe's face was as cold as ice.

After Zheng Xia announced the decree, Xiao Shunzi came over with the tray he had just received, and placed poisonous wine, white silk and a dagger in front of him. Li An just screamed and backed away. Sure enough, he refused to commit suicide.

Walking closer, I whispered: "His Royal Highness, does your Highness remember Liu Piaoxiang in Nanchu?"

Li An's eyes were filled with confusion, and he said after a long time: "Remember, Gu once visited her, didn't you ask Liang Wan to send her back a long time ago? Master Jiang, please beg your second brother for mercy, as long as you spare Gu's life, I would rather be imprisoned for life, or become a monk."

There was a surge of blood in my chest. I didn't expect that Liang Wan had lied to me that day. It turned out that the real murderer of Piao Xiang was herself. Although Li An was the culprit, he was not the murderer. However, the more I thought about it, the more I hated him. , if he hadn't been debauched, if Liang Wan hadn't protected his identity secret, how could Piao Xiang be killed. Thinking of this, I turned to look at Xiao Shunzi and said, "His Royal Highness is unwilling to go on the road, so please help him."

Xiao Shunzi glanced at Zheng Xia, picked up the poisonous wine, stepped forward to hold Li An, and drank the poisonous wine to him easily. Li An died soon, his face turned purple, with reluctance and regret, but he didn't know what he was regretting.

I just felt empty in my heart. The great revenge was avenged, but I was a little confused. At this time, Zheng Shizhong said meaningfully: "Master Jiang, the past is over. You can chase whoever comes, but you must hold on."

I glanced at Zheng Xia, stepped forward and saluted: "Don't worry, Mr. Zheng, although Zhe has some selfish motives, he has never instigated His Highness King Yong to ignore brotherly love. It's just that now that the prince is full of evil, Zhe Ruo can't come and watch his enemy go." , I really can’t reconcile myself to it.”

Although Zheng Xia only heard a few words, he could guess some of the truth. However, he knew that the deal was now settled and he didn't need to do anything. He only had to warn the young man not to harm the overall situation for personal hatred.

The three of them were about to leave when suddenly noisy voices came from outside. When they walked outside the palace, they saw King Yong coming in a hurry. After seeing Zheng Xia and Jiang Zhe, King Yong's expression widened and he said, "Master Zheng, The king sent Jiang Sima to see the prince off, it was just a show of brotherly love, please don’t be offended, Mr. Zheng.”

Zheng Xia couldn't help but feel a little funny, but he didn't expose it. He just said: "This is also a favor. How can I blame you? Your Majesty is waiting for me to report back. Your Majesty, please allow me."

After Zheng Xia left, King Yong came over and gave Jiang Zhe a fierce look and said, "You are so bold. You dare to fake my order and settle accounts with you when I go back." Then he whispered: "Sui Yun , since you have such concerns, why don't you tell me clearly, you are really, alas."

My heart felt warm, and I quickly turned my head to avoid being seen by the tears that were about to overflow. I also whispered: "I dare not harm justice with my selfishness. I am so grateful for Your Highness's love and care for me. I will never dare to hide it again in the future." Your Highness."

King Yong sighed and said, "Let's go. If Xiahou hadn't seen you entering the palace late at night, I wouldn't have known you were acting so recklessly. Fortunately, Mr. Zheng didn't blame you."

I bowed again to express my apology, and then followed His Highness King Yong out of the palace. Along the way, my heart was full of gratitude. After all, I will never be able to repay His Highness King Yong's great kindness.

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Please wait for Chapter 41: Spring Dream without Trace