Iron Dynasty

Father! Father! Who is it? Who did it?

Li Chuyuan in the palace of the King of Chu looked distraught, but the indifference in the depths of his eyes betrayed his mood at this time.

When his father put him under house arrest for the Merchant Council, their relationship between father and son had broken.

Over the years, his father had been a hindrance to his access to power, and now that was finally gone.

Of course, he also guessed who assassinated his father, and today only the emperor in the north can do it.

At this time, he finally realized what Xiao Ming said in the imperial study.

His Royal Highness, now is not the time to be sad. His Highness the King of Chu has passed away, but the country of Chu still needs someone to inherit. As the eldest son, His Royal Highness should inherit the throne of Chu.

When the body of the King of Chu returned to Lin'an City, various forces in the entire Lin'an City heard the news.

The minister who spoke was Li Chuyuan's uncle, Sima Hao. As the first noble family in Lin'an, almost every generation of Chu kings would choose to marry the Sima family.

It is also because of the existence of the Sima Clan that Li Chuyuan's position among the princes will be as stable as Mount Tai.

Uncle, it must be the Cao family who did it. The merchant council has coveted Chu's power for a long time, and now they can't bear it anymore. Li Chuyuan said almost gritted his teeth.

Sima Hao looked confident and said, The nobles of the Chu country have been dissatisfied with the merchant council for a long time, and they will support us, but before that, you must inherit the throne of Chu, so that you can become famous.

Li Chuyuan nodded fiercely, how could he tolerate an uncontrolled force in his territory.

After a pause, he continued: The two Frenchmen are not good either. If they were bewitched, the father and the king would not trust the Cao family so much, and my uncle should immediately execute the two of them.

Sima Hao nodded. They could cooperate with merchants in trade, but they would never tolerate the Cao family coveting power.

Pacing back and forth, Li Chuyuan gritted his teeth and made another decision. He said, Uncle, in order to make sure nothing goes wrong, we should ask Xiao Ming for help now, and leave us a chance of life.

Sima Hao took it seriously, if he didn't take the Cao family in his eyes before, but now the merchant council headed by my Cao family is growing too fast.

He just got the news that the first time the news of King Chu's death came, the three firearms battalions stationed outside Lin'an City, with a total of 9,000 people defected, they protected Cao Kun and Cao Zhengtong and went to Suzhou.

I don't know how many dark flags the Cao family has planted in Chu over the past few years. I suspect that the Merchant Council has not only controlled these few firearms battalions, but there may be many more. At this time, we really need to show weakness to Xiao Ming. Sima Hao pondered. road.

Li Chuyuan said: Since this is the case, I will send a letter to Qingzhou immediately.

After all, he asked someone to bring a pen and paper to record all the current situation of Chu State.

At the same time, Cao Kun and Cao Zhengtong escaped from Lin'an City with their families when they learned of the death of the King of Chu.

They knew very well what would happen if they continued in Lin'an. After all, Lin'an was firmly controlled by the Sima Clan, and their power was very weak.

Father, once Li Chuyuan inherits the throne, he will definitely target the Cao family. We have to endure it for so long and we should do it. Otherwise, there will be no place for us in the Great Yu Kingdom. Cao Zhengtong looked in the direction of Lin'an City, Heart is unwilling.

On the carriage, Cao Kun sat opposite Cao Zhengtong. At this time, he closed his eyes, and after hearing Cao Zhengtong's words, he said slowly, What's the hurry, we have exhausted our financial resources to form a merchant council in recent years, is it Li Chu? Yuan, a brat who doesn't even grow his hair, can deal with it, as for the Sima clan, he is nothing but an old-fashioned antique.

After a pause, he said: When we arrive in Suzhou, we will immediately take control of the new army and recruit soldiers. It will not be an easy task to defeat those disobedient nobles.

Cao Zhengtong nodded. King Wei didn't even know that the current Suzhou governor Fan Zilong was their man. The most important thing was that the governor was in control of the new army recruited in the past two years.

With this batch of new troops equipped with firearms, they are not worried about the storm that Li Chuyuan will set off, their only worry is Xiao Ming in the north.

When the storm was surging in Lin'an, Li San, the initiator, fled all the way with his subordinates.

Four days later, they arrived at Jinling City, and after staying here for several days, they returned to Qingzhou in another four days.

So, the King of Chu is dead?

In the imperial study, Xiao Ming stopped writing. He was writing about penicillin, which was prepared for biology.

Yes, when we were in Jinling City, we sent someone to Lin'an to confirm that the King of Chu was indeed dead. Now Li Chuyuan and Sima Clan control Lin'an City, and the Cao family went to Suzhou. Now both sides are gathering their troops. Prepare to fight. Li San said.

There was a smile on the corner of Xiao Ming's mouth, and the situation was finally interesting. He said, Then let them fight.

Li San was startled for a moment, and he said, Your Majesty, shouldn't we go south now?

It's not yet time, one of these two represents the wealthy family and the other represents the ambition capital. They are both headaches for me. Even if they defeat them now, they will leave hidden dangers. In this case, it is better to let both families suffer, like this. The South that I have taken over is a clean place with no wealthy family and no ambitious capital. Xiao Ming said with a smile.

What the emperor said makes sense, but from the perspective of the officials below, this Li Chuyuan may not be the opponent of the Cao family. Li San was a little worried, If the Cao family controls the south, it will be troublesome.

Xiao Ming smiled, Do you think I will give them this chance?

The two were talking when Qian Dafu suddenly walked in with a letter, and he said, Your Majesty, Li Chuyuan's letter has arrived.

Xiao Ming was in a good mood today, he took the letter from Qian Dafu, read it again, and said to Li San: Li Chuyuan is asking me for help, since this is the case, I can only send the war money again, this Li family Isn't it rich enough to rival the country? I will empty the Li family's money first and then go south to clean them up.

Li San shook his head helplessly. He now basically understands what the emperor meant. In fact, because of the rapid innovation of weapons in Qingzhou, a large number of obsolete firearms have been accumulated in the army. These firearms used to be real gold and silver. It's too wasteful.

And in the Northern War, they also seized a lot of firearms. These firearms are worthless to them, but it is different for Li Chuyuan, who is in urgent need of firearms.