The prince is very fierce

On the eighth day of June in the twelfth year of Zhaohong, Emperor Dayue became ill from overwork due to internal and external troubles, and was frightened by a fire in the palace. He died in the harem at the age of forty-eight, and his posthumous name was "Ling".

Empress Lingdi died young without giving birth to a legitimate son, and left an imperial edict to the emperor's eldest son Song Ling. The emperor's eldest son was young and had difficulty handling political affairs, so he appointed Prime Minister Xiao Chuyang as the emperor's advisor to assist the new emperor. War broke out in Dayue, and the four kings were in trouble. In the Central Plains, in order to prevent Chang'an from being lost, Xiao Chuyang issued an order from King Qin and summoned King Su Xu You to join King Qin in Chang'an.

In the midsummer of June, this news spread at an alarming speed, and the whole world fell into chaos.

First, the Dayue court sent an edict to the four eastern kings on the day the new king ascended the throne. The four kings in the east impeached Song Ji for four major crimes and demanded that Song Ji abdicate the throne in favor of a worthy one. Now that the new king has succeeded, the four kings have no reputation of being a military official, so they naturally force them to stop their troops and surrender to the new king.

At the same time, changes also occurred in northern Xinjiang. As soon as Guanzhong Army coach Guo Xianzhong got the news, he first led his troops back to Guanzhong to aid. After less than half a day, he returned to his original position and continued to guard the north of the Yellow River.

Wang Chenghai, the commander-in-chief of the Western Liaoning Army, secretly withdrew his troops from Youzhou and Yunzhou lines to the Qingzhou line south of the Yellow River without notifying the court. Half of his troops rushed south to support the four kings.

This move directly gave the entire Youzhou to the Northern Qi Dynasty. The imperial court angrily denounced Wang Chenghai as a traitor and traitor. Wang Chenghai directly called Xiao Chuyang a "treacherous prime minister" and colluded with King Su to seek the country.

Naturally, the Jiang family of the Northern Qi Dynasty felt that "God helps me" and quickly sent troops to occupy Youzhou. While attacking Dayue, they did not forget to express their support for the four kings in the east. The king of the Northern Qi Dynasty also issued a special edict to rebuke the Xu family of King Su for their disloyalty. Unjust, he "held the emperor hostage to order the princes" and expressed doubts about the cause of death of the emperor Song Ji. Anyway, he just wanted to divide Dayue from east to west.

The four Song vassal kings in the east were naturally furious when they heard the news.

Mid-June, Luzhou.

Luzhou is the gathering place for the troops of the Three Kings in the East. After half a year of war, the entire Luzhou has turned into a huge military camp. Chao Lake is filled with ships loaded with grain, grass and ordnance. There are clouds of soldiers inside and outside the city. Every moment, soldiers and horses gathered from all over the country and set off towards the front line of Chu.

On the island in the center of Chao Lake, a summer resort was built. At this time, the inside and outside of the manor were heavily guarded. Officers and soldiers wearing the armor of various vassals were guarding the main roads.

The door of the manor's meeting hall was closed tightly, and four people took their seats. The leader was Wei Wang Song Shaoying.

Song Shaoying was over forty years old. He single-handedly controlled South Vietnam. He had the highest military strength and the highest prestige. He also had a good personal relationship with the King of Wu. He is also leading the current coalition of four kings.

Wei King Song Shaoying's left and right were Wu King Song Siming, Yu King Song Ding'an, and Chu King Song Zhengping.

King Wu Song Siming wanted to destroy Song Ji's line because of old and new grudges, but he pulled Song Ji down and supported King Wei as the new king. It was a fight between the Song brothers for family property; in the current situation, it is a foreign surname. People came to the house to seize the family property. Naturally, Song Siming was filled with anger. He slapped the table and said angrily:

"...Xu You's son is so ambitious. What's the word 'died from overwork and died in the harem'? Song Ji died just after Xu Buling returned to Chang'an. How could such a coincidence happen? It must be Xu Buling's treason. Conspired to kill Song Ji..."

The other three kings all had similar ideas, but it was useless to know. The Xiliang army had already occupied Chang'an, and it was in line with etiquette and law for the emperor's eldest son to succeed to the throne. No matter how harshly they scolded him without any basis, King Su would not be able to retreat out of guilt, and the new king would not be able to give up the throne.

Song Shaoying, King of Wei, raised his hand: "The Holy One had a strong body and it was impossible for him to die suddenly. A few days ago, Wang Chenghai, the Governor of the Western Liaoning Protectorate, sent me a secret letter. He said that the Holy One had expected that the Xu family would be up to no good and had him killed. Secret edict, if there are changes in Guanzhong, you can abandon Youyun and other states and lead your troops south to assist this king..."

When Song Zhengping, the king of Chu, heard this, he frowned:

"Song Shaoying, we are all members of the Song family behind closed doors. Don't talk nonsense here. Song Ji is narrow-minded and values ​​the throne more than his own life. How could he issue a secret edict to ask Wang Chenghai to assist you as the new king?"

Song Shaoying was not surprised at all by King Chu's words. After all, if this is true, then he will become Dayue's orthodox successor, directly ending Song Zhengping's desire to fight for unification.

Song Ji issued a secret edict to Wang Chenghai in advance, so it was impossible to directly depose him and designate Song Shaoying as the new king. The secret edict only said that there were changes in Guanzhong, and that the land of Youyun could be abandoned to assist the King of Wei, leaving a way out for himself.

In this way, if Xu Buling rebels directly, he will raise troops to attack Guanzhong and kill Song Ji's lineage. The King of Wei naturally became the orthodox successor, and could use secret edicts to order the princes to establish themselves and continue the Song imperial line.

But if Xu Buling did not dare to directly resist, but chose to sideline the Song Dynasty and "hijack the emperor to control the princes", the King of Wei would naturally counterattack the Guanzhong Road after receiving the secret edict and seizing the Liaoxi Army. After destroying the Xu family, if the situation changes, with Song Ji's remaining power and status as emperor, there is still a chance to make a comeback and regain the imperial power.

However, Xu Buling directly killed Song Ji and established a new king to command the princes. The new king was only nine years old and had no foundation. It was obviously impossible for Song Ji's lineage to make a comeback.

The deceased Shi Bing, who was waiting in the dark, saw Song Ji's death and hurriedly brought the edict of passing the throne and the jade seal of passing the country to King Wei. It's a pity that this edict of succession was intercepted by Xu Buling.

Therefore, Wei King Song Shaoying only had an ambiguous secret edict in his hand. Although it did not affect his power, it would definitely cause trouble if he showed it in front of other vassal kings.

In order to prevent other vassal kings from running over to seize the throne after the situation was calmed down, Song Shaoying naturally said seriously:

"Now that the door is closed, we are all brothers with the same surname, and we don't say those vain words.

Although His Majesty's ostentatious ruling is not appropriate, everyone knows his strategy and intentions. If we were not afraid of His Majesty, we would not have to impeach His Majesty and raise an army to force him to abdicate.

It is true that His Majesty wants to reduce the power of the vassal states and seize power, but he has always been thinking about the Song family's long-term foundation. You don't deny this, right? "

King of Chu Song Zhengping hesitated and did not speak, while the two kings of Wu and Yu nodded.

Although Song Ji angered the heavens and offended everyone, the only reason for his current fate was that he exposed his intention to reduce the power of the vassal states, which made the kings feel cold.

But from the perspective of the Song family, Song Ji did nothing wrong. If they were not reduced, they would sooner or later raise an army to seize the throne like this time; maybe after one of them succeeded to the throne, they would not even overturn the decrees set by Song Ji, but would follow Song Ji's path and continue. Continue to move forward.

Seeing that the kings had no objection, Song Shaoying continued:

"Your Majesty may be too domineering, but he is definitely not a tyrant or a mediocre king. It's just that the layout went wrong. One wrong step led to another, and in the end, it was impossible to save the situation. Given His Majesty's character, he must have regarded the Song family's foundation as more important than the imperial lineage. It is reasonable for him to issue a secret decree to let me restore the Song family. Otherwise, Wang Chenghai, who was loyal to His Majesty, would have governed the Liaoxi Protectorate on behalf of the emperor. Without His Majesty's approval, he would have obeyed the orders of the eldest prince. How could he come to me with the infamy of being a traitor?"

This was reasonable and well-founded. The other two kings had already supported the King of Wei, so they naturally nodded. But the King of Chu, Song Zhengping, did not believe it:

"You are in the south of the four vassal kings in the east, and Song Ji has no friendship with you. Why should Wang Chenghai assist you? Could it be that none of the three of us are in His Majesty's eyes? "

Song Shaoying was silent for a while, shook his head and sighed:

"Although the words are a bit hurtful, it is true. The emperor has always been arrogant and looks down on the four of us. He can issue a secret decree to let me restore the Song family. It is not because I am so outstanding, but simply because I am the tallest among the short ones. "

"..."

King Song Zhengping of Chu slapped the table, but he didn't say anything.

King Song Siming of Wu and King Wei wore the same pants. At this time, he shook his head and said: "Zhengping, you have more than 100,000 troops under your command, sitting on Mashankou, Nanyang, Xiangyang and other important military places. Together, you defended Xu Buling for less than a day, and Qin Jing was nicknamed "Qin Paopao" by the court. How can you let the emperor give you the important task of restoring the Song family? "

Song Zhengping got angry when he heard this, and said angrily: "Don't you know how I fought? If I could hold on, how could I retreat? I was fighting in the front and you stood by and watched in the back. Do you have the face to say that I didn't contribute? "

Song Shaoying raised his hand: "Stop arguing. In any case, the surname cannot be changed in this world. The most urgent task now is to expel the Xu family. The Prince of Su occupied Guanzhong and ordered the princes. The forces in Dayue were leaderless and could only listen to the orders of the new emperor. In my opinion, now we can only obey the secret decree of the emperor, specifying that the new emperor is the puppet emperor of the Xu family, and I will inherit the throne and order the princes to attack the Xu family. "

Song Zhengping was naturally unhappy about this:

"Now we should gather troops and go to Guanzhong to serve the king and clear the court. How can we directly establish ourselves?"

Song Shaoying did not receive the edict of abdication from Song Ji. Now he should serve the king and clear the court, but if he raised the banner of "serving the king and clearing the court", and really conquered Guanzhong, he would let his nephew abdicate, which would be against etiquette.

"The secret decree of the emperor is like this, and I am also thinking about the overall situation. "Clearing the court" means recognizing the new emperor's imperial lineage, which is helping the Xu family. If you must go to Chang'an to defend the king, you can lead your troops there yourself."

"You..."

King of Chu Song Zhengping looked at each other for a moment. After all, one person could not fight against three vassal kings. In the end, he just snorted, stood up and left...