fake prince

Chapter 1426 Fishing
cabinet
"Is there no good news from the navy yet?"

Hearing the question, Cui Zhaoquan, who was in charge of the Ministry of War, stroked his beard subconsciously and sighed: "Han Chengxun is the admiral of the navy, and he only brought 3,000 people with him. He can only transport and support. The main commander Zhang Dongqi is usually quite active and his memorials are remarkable, but at present, he is mediocre in combat..."

"Even with 30,000 men, you can't take down the empty Ying State"

"Of course, it is said that the defending general Zhong Yunli is a descendant of a former Wei general, and he does have some military skills."

After hearing this, Zhao Xu was silent and sighed: "Yingguo was a pawn of the former Wei, and I didn't realize it. I won't shirk my responsibility. This is my responsibility. I have written a secret letter of self-accusation and sent it to the court. I am waiting for the court's punishment!"

Qian Wei immediately continued: "I didn't notice it either. This is not the responsibility of the Prime Minister alone. The cabinet is also responsible. Although Zhang Dongqi is incompetent, we can't change the generals in the middle of the battle now..."

Just as we were about to continue the discussion, we heard a commotion. This was the center of the imperial court, where did the noise come from?

The three of them were startled, but then they saw Wen Xunpeng walk in quickly, his face a little livid, and he bowed and reported: "My lords, Shuyang Mansion has been captured."

The three of them were silent, and Cui Zhaoquan said, "It's just a city that has been conquered. You're so anxious..."

Before he could finish his words, Wen Xunpeng interrupted him rudely: "The useless people of Shu have sent a false edict in Shuyang Prefecture, saying that Your Majesty killed his ancestors and the emperor, killed his uncle and had affairs with the concubines. Now, you are following the blood edict to ascend the throne and fight against the bandits!"

"what?"

When Qian Wei and Cui Zhaoquan heard this, their faces turned pale, and Zhao Xu also turned pale. However, he was an old minister who had served three dynasties and had experienced many great events, so he stood up without hesitation.

"What did your Majesty say?"

"Your Majesty, please let the gentlemen see you immediately."

Zhao Xu, Cui Zhaoquan and Qian Wei didn't say anything. They immediately stood up and walked out of the courtyard. They saw Gao Ze and several eunuchs waiting for them.

Eunuchs were not allowed to interfere in government affairs, so they were not allowed to enter the cabinet office unless they were conveying an imperial decree or following the emperor.

"Please, gentlemen," Gao Ze said, and led the way forward without saying anything else.

The crowd walked straight through the hall, along the corridor, and arrived at the imperial study, where they saw eight guards with swords standing outside the hall, and twelve eunuchs inside serving with their hands hanging down.

But the emperor was looking at the memorial, his expression was not very solemn, and he was writing a memorial.

"All of you stand up, sit down and talk." Su Ziji smiled and said, "For the places that were ravaged by the war, I will exempt taxes for three years and allocate another 1.2 million taels of silver to provide relief and grain."

"What do you think?" Su Ziji glanced at them with a smile.

"This is the grace of the Emperor. The millions of people who have been affected by the disaster will naturally celebrate with joy..." Zhao Xu said after carefully considering his words, paused, and reported: "I have something else to report..."

"The useless Shu people sent troops to attack me in Shuyang Prefecture?" Su Ziji couldn't help but sneer when he heard this: "I already know about it."

"Your Majesty..." Cui Zhaoquan shouted anxiously.

"It's not that I don't know the situation, but I think you are too impatient."

Su Ziji stood up and paced back and forth, saying slowly: "This is a military maneuver."

"..." Wen Xunpeng, who followed behind, had his eyes lit up, as if he understood something.

"Those who have paved the way for the true dragon in the past dynasties are destined by heaven, but in fact it is also human - they became kings and emperors early, so that the court would focus on encircling and suppress them."

Famous instruments gather people's hearts, so once a famous instrument is established, it must not be tolerated.

This is the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang delayed in proclaiming himself king. If he had claimed to be king or emperor, the Yuan Dynasty would have made every effort to encircle and suppress him. However, as he was only the governor, it was not his turn to be the first to suppress him.

"But because of this, the enemy army is now taking advantage of it."

"The enemy army has been sinking into a quagmire step by step, and is becoming weaker day by day. You all know that if we advance another hundred miles, we will reach the battlefield where the imperial court has set up an ambush - hundreds of thousands of elite troops are waiting for us at leisure."

"It seems that the Shu waste and the fake king have smelled something."

At this point, even Su Ziji was a little disappointed. It was really just a little bit away from reaching his pocket.

But it doesn't matter. In fact, we are already in the trap. When the time comes, we can surround them from all sides and trap the whole city.

"So, the useless people of Shu and the fake king want to have a decisive battle in the wild while the main force is still alive. That's why they brazenly proclaimed themselves emperors and sent conquests to all directions, just to establish their reputation. The anxious urging of the gentlemen to encircle and suppress the rebels has given the rebel army an opportunity to take advantage of it."

This actually also implies the reason for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's early victory.

The Taiping Army's Northern Expedition was led by Lin Fengxiang, Li Kaifang, Ji Wenyuan and others with 2 people. This Northern Expedition was of course a failure, and Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang were executed by slow slicing. Many mediocre people therefore looked down on it.

In fact, the Northern Expedition went straight to Beijing, which forced all the officials in the world to "rush to defend the capital and the emperor." From May 1853 to June 5, no one dealt with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom headquarters, which enabled the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to develop rapidly.

It can be said that there would be no Taiping Heavenly Kingdom without the Northern Expedition.

The principle is that even if one knows that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom headquarters can be easily suppressed, but as a subject, if one does not put "rushing to protect the capital (central government) and the emperor" first, he is naturally a traitor and will not die a good death even if he wins.

Similarly, when the King of Shu proclaimed himself emperor, all the officials in the country had to immediately write a blood oath to suppress him. If they did not, they would be considered "disloyal".

Not only the local counties and generals, but even the cabinet had to do so, and naturally it was a national strategy.

In fact, most people did not have time to react, as their long-standing official consciousness made them act in this way subconsciously.

But the so-called ideological stamp, especially if there is no stamp, will expose that you are not an official of the court and have ulterior motives.

"But think about it carefully, even if the King of Shu, no, the useless Shu, proclaims himself emperor, what's so scary about a mere prefecture? Why should we be so anxious?"

Su Ziji said with a smile to the stunned Zhao Xu and others.

Suddenly, there was a silence in the hall. After a moment, Zhao Xu held up his robe and bowed solemnly, saying, "Forgive me! I have been a minister all my life, but I am confused at this moment. It shows that I am not very good at cultivating my temper. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

Su Ziji smiled and nodded, and asked everyone to sit down with his hand: "You are my subjects, you should help me in times of emergency, how can you blame me?"

"But the art of war is to calm the enemy with tranquility and plunder with fire."

"Therefore, we must issue an order to all counties and guards to follow the original deployment and not to advance rashly."

"You are the cabinet members, and you are the most important officials in the court. You must not be impatient."

"In fact, as of today, the Shu wastes and Ying thieves have penetrated deep into our territory. They can close the net at any time. This trick is nothing but a last-ditch effort."

Su Ziji smiled slightly, his expression grim.
"Since the Shu waste has done such evil things and doesn't want to leave, we can tighten our belts, cut off the inside and outside, and strangle him at every step - let's do it this way."

Suhe Town

There is an official road in the west and a water transport wharf in the east. There is also a post station. Merchants come and go in an endless stream, and the population becomes increasingly dense, thus forming a town.

Although it is now close to the bandits and is much quieter, it is still more prosperous than ordinary towns.

By dusk that day, there was a gentleman's house. It seemed that his ancestors had served as officials. There were still two stone lions standing at the door, but they had been there for a long time.

The light in the hall of the gentleman's house was very dim, with only two candles lit.

Cao Yiyan lay on the couch, seemingly resting with his eyes closed. Several people stood with their hands hanging down, all without saying a word.

After a long time, Cao Yiyan sat up. Although the weather was cool, he seemed to think the hall was too hot. He fanned himself twice before he sighed deeply.

"I waited for three days, but there was no good news."

"Ji Zizong is really able to keep his composure. He is not even twenty years old!"

It was said to be a surprise attack on the capital, but it was a matter of life and death and was only done as a last resort. The reason he came out was to fish.

To fish for the big fish in the imperial court is also to fish in the army to see if there is any instability.

However, Cao Yiyan was disappointed.

Logically speaking, as soon as the King of Shu proclaimed himself emperor, the surrounding military guards would be severely forced by the court and the emperor to go out of the city and fight in the field, so that they could take advantage of the opportunity to destroy him in one fell swoop.

This has happened many times in history. The generals were cautious, but could not withstand the panic of the court and the emperor, who gave reckless orders, resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

This place is close to the capital city. Hundreds of thousands of troops were annihilated and the capital city was suddenly in despair. Maybe we can capture the capital city in one go.

But now, after waiting for three days, there was still no movement. Wouldn't Cao Yiyan be disappointed and shocked?