The King of Liang, the feudal lords outside the town, and the generals inside

"In the last memorial left to me by Prime Minister Shen before his death, he told me that there is no need to stop Liang Wang from rebelling, and he can even help him. Because his goal is not the throne, but to really clear the king's side." The emperor's voice Heavy, as if something heavy was falling, "But I don't understand, if he really trusts King Liang so much, why does he keep acting like he's on guard against him? I've thought about it for a long time, since the first time I mentioned it to Shen Xiang At the beginning, King Liang picked out every time Xiang Xiang said and did things related to King Liang, recalled them carefully one by one, and pondered over and over again. Then I suddenly discovered that what Xiang Xiang said was consistent with It’s always been different.”

·

This time it was Shen Xiu's turn to be stunned.

"Do you know when and how I thought of him?" Bai Yu admired his astonishment, and said slowly, "In the beginning, everything seemed to have nothing to do with Shen Xiang. Brother Huang is like a teacher like a father, who would doubt him, who would dare to doubt him? But I have always had an intuition that behind all this there must be two powerful hands participating or even manipulating, although I can't think of this person Who is it? Until that day, Shen Fang, the eldest son of Prime Minister Shen and your eldest brother, was ordered to come to Sichuan and Sichuan to persuade me to strike. I looked at his face that day, and suddenly remembered a person——I had two teachings when I was young The master I studied, one I later learned was my grandfather, and the other was your second brother who passed away six years ago! Shen Fang looks very similar to him. At that moment, I figured out a lot I couldn’t figure out the doubts, so I dug out some books from that time, and carefully checked the annotations that Master wrote for me. Sure enough, he would avoid taboo whenever he wrote the word ‘clear’! Either remove the radical, Either add or subtract strokes! When I was young, I didn’t take this matter to heart, but now, Shen Xiu, why don’t you tell me why?”

·

"For example, he spared no effort to help me find the king of Liang who was living abroad, and his intentions even surpassed mine. But after the king of Liang recognized his ancestors and returned to his clan, he seemed to be a different person, and he was always jealous of the king of Liang. It's pleasing to the eye. His explanation is that he can't bear to see the heirs of the former emperor living outside, but now I see it as a cover-up!"

"For another example, when Chunyu Xuan discovered that King Liang was near Liangzhou, Prime Minister Shen proposed to send Yan Zun to pick him up. He said it was because Yan Zun was your younger brother, he could be trusted, and it was convenient to pick him up from you. But Who in the whole Zhou Dynasty didn't know that Yan Zun was good at masculinity, and Liang Wang was so good-looking, how could Yan Zun be indifferent? Many troubles after that were inseparable from this matter."

"Later, it was the most obvious one. It's a pity that I didn't see it at the time: Liang Wang had repeated troubles with him, and he was Shen Xiang. He proposed to give Liang Wang a fief, let him leave the domain, and stay away from Shangjing——Liang Wang If he stayed in Shangjing, under the eyes of everyone, he would have no chance to rebel, but once he was given a fief, he would go into the sea and let the tiger go back to the mountain. How could Prime Minister Shen not know?! He objected to the real power given to King Liang, But I also saw that I sent the King of Liang to a battleground like Sichuan and Shu. It was so self-contradictory, but neither I nor the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty could see the strangeness. Test!" The emperor paused, a little sad, "So I found out very sadly that the person I gave all my trust to before doesn't seem to be like that."

·

Bai Yu continued: "One of the reasons that led me to leave the feudal clan was that the Queen Mother's murder of her mother and her son was exposed. At that time, there were only the emperor's brother, Prime Minister Shen, me, and Nanny Feng in the secret room. Prime Minister Shen warned me not to spread the word. However, this incident was still spread. Everyone said that I did it on purpose, in order to make the government turbulent, so that I could profit from it. At that time, someone said, "There are only four people present, and the emperor can't say, It’s impossible for Nanny Feng to say it, and it’s impossible for Prime Minister Shen to say it, so who else could it be?” It’s just such an understatement, a sentence that seems to be taken for granted, but I can’t wash it out even if I jumped into the Yellow River. But why not? For a change? Why can't it be 'The emperor can't say it, Feng Momo can't say it, Liang Wang can't say it, so who else can it be?'"

·

Yan Xun looked very haggard, his eyes were black and bloodshot in two days, his whole portrait was emptied of vitality, and he was crumbling like a leaf in the wind.He said: "Chun Yuxuan once told my ministers that when he sent a letter back to Beijing by flying pigeons, he did not pass it directly to the emperor, but passed through Prime Minister Shen first, and then transferred it to the emperor from Prime Minister Shen—according to him, it was Prime Minister Shen who felt that In this way, the eyes and ears of the queen mother in the palace can be avoided. Chun Yuzheng saw the king of Liang following Wu Enqi, so he wrote this matter in the letter. Later he told his ministers that the emperor's reply was " It's okay'. Then I want to ask the emperor, does the emperor really know about this?"

The emperor shook his head dumbfounded, and leaned back on the chair slumped, "I don't know, I don't know at all."

Yan Xun closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "I should have told the emperor about this earlier, instead of never thinking that Prime Minister Shen might not have let the emperor know about it at all. Before he died, let his The youngest son recognizes his father as a foster father, which naturally makes him stalk the minister's side, so, that's why the minister..."

The emperor's absent-minded appearance suddenly changed. He stared at Yan Xun, and roared with anger, "I told you a long time ago, you can't hurt him! Why did you kill him? How can you be so cruel?! "

"I thought that person was King Min. It was too confusing at the time. It was Shen Xiu who convinced me that King Min was still alive! I didn't even have time to think about it..." Yan Xun's hands trembled a little, "I thought that when I saw Zhu Sha take my sister The hostage, the person who can ruthlessly order the siege must not be him! What's more, I didn't intend to kill him, but stabbed him, just wanted to make him unconscious, because only by making everyone think he was dead, he to live!"

The emperor looked at Yan Xun silently, his eyes were dark and complicated.

"If I really want to kill him, I can slit his throat with a single knife, and the Da Luo God will not be able to save him!" Yan Xun's breathing became heavier, and the pain that had been suppressed in his heart for two days was on the verge of breaking out. After fainting, after waking up, everyone said that that person was not King Mi at all, King Mi died 19 years ago, and the one who was killed by the officials that day was King Liang..."

When he said the last two words, Yan Xun's trembling was unstoppable. He forced himself to say these words, his chest hurt so badly that he couldn't help covering his heart, but he felt the longevity hanging on his chest. Lock.

"The one you killed was the King of Compassion," said the emperor.Yan Xun thought he saw hope, but the emperor added another sentence, "Because it was the king who conspired against him. King Liang... died of illness. History books will write like this."

Yan Xun was like dead ashes in a charcoal basin.

Zhang Lan followed the emperor out of Yan Xun's room, and everyone in Yan's house knelt and waited outside.The emperor helped Yan Jun up and said, "Mr. Yongming has worked hard. On behalf of our ancestors, I would like to thank the Yan family for their loyalty."

Yan Jun aged a lot overnight.There was no joy on his face, he just forced the corners of his mouth to thank the saint.

The emperor looked at the white banners hanging in the mansion, and with some guilt and regret, said: "Before King Mercy attacked the city, I took Princess Chunyi into the palace and stayed in my side hall, just because I was afraid that something bad would happen to her. But I didn't expect Zhu Sha to have another hostage. I'm sorry for you."

Yan Jun's eye circles turned red immediately, he tried not to let the tears fall, he choked up and said: "Fu'er is a citizen of Dazhou, she died for the country, and she deserved to die."

There were also tears in the emperor's eyes, he quickly wiped them away, and asked again: "Is Princess Chunyi okay?"

Yan Jun shook his head, "She fainted from crying several times, neither eating nor drinking. The minister asked the doctor to force-feed her with tranquilizing medicine, and she is now falling asleep."

"At least, the chief culprit has already received retribution, and I hope the Princess can be comforted."

After talking with Yan Jun for a while, the emperor drove back to the palace.After returning to the palace, Zhang Lan finally asked in puzzlement: "Why didn't the emperor tell the general that Liang... the body of King Mi was not found, and the emperor just built a clothes tomb?"

The emperor said: "Because I don't know who that person is, and whether he is still alive. Moreover, I am really angry with him. What if it is really King Liang? What if he killed him if he did not act properly? ——First Let him be sad for a few days before talking."

"Then does the emperor want someone to look for King Liang or King Mi? Or the two princes?"

The emperor thought about it and said: "Don't rush. I still have a lot of things to deal with, especially the funeral ceremony of the queen mother, and who will fill the vacant official positions of the slain Cen's relatives. After finishing these things, I will I want to meet the Chizheng Sanren."

·

When Shen Qing appeared in front of Bai Yu, Bai Yu was surprised to find that he was exactly the same as when he first saw him three years ago, as if time alone had forgotten this old man, he was still so tough, his eyes were as bright as ever. torch.

"Veteran pays homage to Your Highness." Shen Qing bowed respectfully.

Shen Qing's grandsons are all dozens of years older than Bai Yu, and Bai Yu didn't want to be worshiped by him at first, but when he thought of Shen Qing's schemes and schemes, he just watched him indifferently and slowly knelt down.

After enduring it again and again, Bai Yu said lightly: "Prime Minister, please get up. Why bother to be so polite, I'm just a prisoner of your Shen family now."

Shen Qing bowed his body respectfully, his voice was old but not weak, full of air, "It is the old minister's fault that His Highness misunderstood. The old minister just wants to protect His Highness and has no other intentions."

"Protection? Imprisonment? Is there a difference?" Bai Yu asked him, "At this point, my lord can tell me, why? You are the elder of the four dynasties, and you are an important minister."

Shen Qing looked back calmly, "It's because the old minister is the elder of the four dynasties, and he entrusted the lonely and important minister to exhaust all his efforts for twenty years, just to welcome His Highness back to the court, and Cheng Tian ascended the throne."

"This is treason!" Bai Yu glared at him angrily, "The throne belongs to the emperor! If he is a foolish tyrant, I will do my best to cooperate with you, but the emperor is clearly a rare wise emperor, even if I really sit on it That seat may not be better than him! As the Chancellor of the court, you should think about the people and do your best to keep the world peaceful, instead of doing these meaningless things!"

Shen Qing looked deeply at Bai Yu, sighed for a long time, and said, "Your Highness, this old minister doesn't know anything in his life, he only knows loyalty to the emperor. The first emperor said that he wanted to make the son of Empress Shuyuan's womb the crown prince. The old minister can only obey his orders. .”

"You are foolish!"

Shen Qing took two steps, "How does Your Highness know that your father was poisoned by the Empress Dowager? How can the old minister allow her son to rule the world and give her the opportunity to control the court and steal the throne?!"

Regarding the strangeness of the late Emperor's sudden death at such a young age, Bai Yu had already speculated a lot, and was not too surprised.But at this time he thought of another question, his eyes flashed, he stared straight at Shen Qing's eyes, and said: "I am not the only child in the womb of the concubine mother, but you only said that you want to help me ascend the throne. So the king of mercy He's really dead, right?"

Shen Qing didn't evade his question, nodded and said, "Of course."

Bai Yu gasped, "Then who is that person?!"