A traitor

Because he already knew Cheng Qi's position before, Mei Liusheng didn't mention the matter of getting him to submit to him.

Let's hear Cheng Qi ask: "Your Highness, what happened back then, and why did you come back in this capacity?"

Mei Liusheng paused, and replied: "Back then, the king accompanied his envoys to Xuanguo. Unexpectedly, in the border town, someone set fire to the inn. Under the protection of his followers, he managed to save his life by chance. Because of his serious injuries, he stayed in the I rested in the border city for a few years, and afterwards thought that someone in the court might deliberately harm me, so I didn't dare to startle the snake."

He turned around and sighed: "Later, I heard that everyone in the court thought that the king was dead. If I went back at that time, I was afraid that I would commit the crime of deceiving the king and be criticized, saying that the king did not want to go to Xuanguo .

Therefore, it was done on purpose, and this king wanted to find out who the person who murdered this king behind his back was, so he planned to hide. "

"I came back this time and entered the imperial court through the imperial examination, one is to find out who set the fire back then, and the other is to serve the court.

Although this king can no longer return to Li Chengsi, as a descendant of the royal family, he has an unshirkable responsibility to the Southern Tang Dynasty. If he can use his humble talent to assist the emperor's uncle in governing the government, it will be considered worthy of his kindness to this king. . "

Although his words were high-sounding and sincere, Cheng Qi was not a fool after all, so he naturally knew that his coming back this time was by no means as simple as assisting the government.

But he didn't know that the fire that year was set by Li Chengsi himself, so he half believed Mei Liusheng's words.

Thinking of the current emperor's persecution of Li Chengsi, Cheng Qi only thought that the fire in the post house was done by the emperor to remove Li Chengsi's thorn in his side, and Li Chengsi naturally knew the mastermind behind it. Who is he, but because he has no evidence and is unable to fight against his uncle.

When I come back this time, I am afraid that I am looking for an opportunity to seek revenge from the emperor. What's more, I want to overthrow the court and become the emperor myself.

Whether it's revenge or rebellion, it has nothing to do with him, and he didn't even think about getting into this troubled water.

The current emperor once killed Xie's family. Although he has been silent for these years, it is difficult for him not to hold a grudge.

What's more, the emperor has become more and more stupid in recent years, causing the court to be in a mess, and the people below to live in dire straits. He has long been dissatisfied, but has been patient.

This Li Chengsi, according to his memory, is a capable and capable person. If he is to be the emperor, no matter what, he will be better than the current emperor.

However, if he were to betray the current imperial court at the risk of being exterminated and ransacked in order to help Li Chengsi, he would not be able to do it.

Although the current emperor is fatuous and has a grudge against him.But all the while, it's been good for him.

What's more, there is He Yunqi on the border, and Changshan Wang and his son in Chang'an City. Even if he wants to help Li Chengsi, he has to consider these factors.

So for the current situation, he hopes that he can stay out of the matter and watch the tigers fight from the mountain. As for who becomes the king and who loses the bandits, it all depends on their own good luck.

So he smiled and said: "Your Highness has national affairs in mind, and the veterans admire him. The matter of the border town was not intentional by His Highness. If you want to come to the emperor, you will not blame it for it. If there is a chance in the future, Your Highness will still reveal his identity and explain the situation to the Emperor as soon as possible. Bar."

Mei Liusheng hummed, and asked again: "By the way, because of Lingmei's incident yesterday, the king was worried that she would do something wrong on impulse and bring disaster to the general's mansion, so he sent his cronies to inform her with a dagger as a token." General Cheng, that confidant is my king's bodyguard, he is also my servant and younger brother, where is he now?"

Facing Mei Liusheng's questioning, Cheng Qi deliberately avoided Chengying, but said with a shameful look: "The old minister has no way to teach her daughter, which made her make a big mistake and almost ran into His Highness. I am really ashamed of the court and have failed the emperor's will." Ron."

Knowing that he was testing his attitude, Mei Liusheng had no choice but to linger, and comforted him indifferently: "What about General Cheng, Miss Cheng was just sad and angry because she was thinking about the past, Master Su also said, she is right to be her own family. Internal conflicts, why bother to get involved in the government?"

Cheng Qi was still not at ease: "But... Su Qinglang is treacherous and cunning, and he has always been small-minded, and he will take revenge for every wrongdoing. The old minister is worried..."

Thinking of how Su Qinglang was tortured to half-death by Cheng Ying, Cheng Qi still has face now, accusing him of being treacherous and cunning, Mei Liusheng felt a little unhappy after all.

He replied indifferently: "Don't worry, General Cheng. Although Su Qinglang is usually a small person, his words are still very trustworthy. Besides, this king and him have some friendship. If he is really angry, it will be difficult to calm down." , the king will mediate in the middle, and will never let him pursue Miss Cheng."

Hearing this, Cheng Qi cupped his hands and said, "So, thank you Your Highness."

Maybe he felt that his intention to protect was too obvious, Cheng Qi was a little embarrassed, paused, and said: "My little girl is ignorant, and she committed such a crime. As the commander of the first army, the old minister should be fair and strict. Killing Cheng Ying is justified. Seeing and hearing, but the old minister has only one daughter under his knees, I really can't bear it...

Today, His Highness helped me to save the little girl's life and give her a chance to reform. The old official was very grateful. If she committed another crime in the future, the old official would definitely punish her and never condone it. "

Mei Liusheng raised his lips and smiled: "The matter is over, General Cheng doesn't have to blame himself too much, let's think about calming down the chaos now."

Cheng Qi sighed, and heard him ask again: "Then, the guard of this king..."

Cheng Qi came to his senses, and hurriedly said: "Don't worry, Your Highness, the old minister was frightened when he saw His Highness's guards and the dagger yesterday. Your Highness, that's why he was ordered to stay in the army temporarily, and the old minister will ask him to come over later."

Mei Liusheng sneered in his heart, but still put on a polite look on his face, and replied: "General Lao Cheng is here."

When the two talked about the rebel army, Cheng Qi asked Mei Liusheng to sit down and said, "The old minister wants to explain to His Highness about the rebel army."

He also sat down and continued: "According to the old minister's opinion, it is best to surrender rather than confront the chaos this time."

Mei Liusheng let out a sigh, and heard him say again: "Your Highness, do you know that the rebels in Qinzhou are actually people from nearby prefectures?"

Mei Liusheng nodded: "I have heard a little bit about it, and it is only said that because of the flood, dissatisfaction with the imperial court will lead to rebellion."

Cheng Qi sighed, and said again: "Your Highness only knows one thing, but not the other thing. The people in these prefectures are not entirely to blame for the riots."

It turned out that a few months ago, there was a flood in Bingzhou. Although the imperial court opened the treasury and allocated money for disaster relief.

However, those silver taels were exploited layer by layer by the officials in charge of this matter, and when it was the turn of the common people, there were very few of them.

The common people had no choice but to sell their children and daughters because they couldn't eat enough. Many families even starved to death.

However, half of the rice grain distributed by the imperial court was mixed with sand. In order to prevent riots, the local officials even used soldiers to forcefully suppress the victims. During the struggle between the two sides, many people died.

The people had no way out, and in anger, they rushed into the officials' houses one by one with hoes in hand, beat several officials involved to death with sticks, and then, instigated by local bandits, they went up the mountain to become soldiers one after another. The common people, who have seen the government corruption all the year round, have been completely disappointed with the court, so they all followed suit.

In fact, Mei Liusheng already knew about this matter, but he still put on an angry look: "The disaster fell from the sky, and the people are in dire straits. They don't want to give relief to the victims. Instead, they plan to give money to the victims, fill their pockets, and are greedy. It's just disgusting!"

Seeing him getting angry, Cheng Qi sighed again: "Those people's death is not a pity, but the matter has already happened, and the old minister only regrets that he found out too late, otherwise the trouble would not have come to this point."

Hearing this, Mei Liusheng comforted him and said, "Bingzhou and Qinzhou are far apart. The general is busy with military affairs. How can he overstep his authority? Now that I know the reason, it is a blessing. The general has done his duty so far, so why should he blame himself?"

This sentence comes from the heart, if Cheng Qi's corpse is a vegetarian meal, and those officials are doing things together, just suppress the victims, why delay for so long?

Cheng Qi continued: "Nowadays the people's livelihood is so angry that the old minister tried to recruit him several times, but all failed. This matter still needs to be discussed in the long term."

Mei Liusheng hummed, and said again: "The reason is that this king has to discuss things with the other two lords, hoping to come up with a way to satisfy both sides."

Coming out of Cheng Qi's place, Mei Liusheng was concerned about Su Qinglang's body, so he quickly returned to Su Qinglang's room.

At that time, Cai Jun was feeding medicine to Su Qinglang, when Mei Liusheng saw it, he took the medicine bowl in his hand and said, "I'll come..."

Seeing Mei Liusheng came back, Su Qinglang raised his eyes to look at him, with a smile on his face, and half-jokingly said: "Why, Mr. Mei came back after discussing important national affairs."

Knowing that he was doubting himself again, Mei Liusheng didn't change his expression, sat down beside his bed and said, "What important national event is it? It's just that when Chengying went to see General Cheng yesterday, he forced his way into the barracks, injured someone, and made a scene. When disaster strikes, General Cheng sent me over to discuss the matter."

Su Qinglang didn't expect Cheng Qi to find Mei Liusheng for this matter, so he restrained his expression and asked, "Is Cheng Ying okay?"

Seeing that he believed it, Mei Liusheng smiled and replied: "It's nothing, I apologized to General Cheng, and made amends to the injured, so it's over."

Su Qinglang hummed, and stopped talking, fearing that he still had doubts in his heart, Mei Liusheng could only think of a way to divert his attention.

So while giving him cold medicine, he told Su Qinglang and the others about the disaster victims in Bingzhou. Needless to say, Cai Jun was so angry when he learned the inside story, he kept clamoring to write a memorial and report it to the emperor, so that the officials in charge of disaster relief Arrest them one by one and punish them.

And Su Qinglang sat on the bed, and was stunned for a long time after hearing the words, his face that had recovered a little, immediately turned pale, his fingers trembled, and finally spat out another mouthful of blood.