On the eighth day of the first lunar month of the 14th day of the Zhengde period, Nanchang City was still immersed in the atmosphere of the New Year, and only about 60 to 70% of the shops on the street were open for business.

In Prince Ning's Mansion in the south of the city, brand-new lanterns hang on both sides of the golden-painted gate, and the two stone lions squatting outside the gate are still as majestic as ever.

However, if you look carefully, you will find that there are twice as many guards guarding the palace as usual. Moreover, these guards all have solemn expressions, and the atmosphere seems a bit tense.

At this moment, in the secret room of Prince Ning's Mansion, Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao was urgently summoning his cronies to discuss important matters. They included: eunuch Liu Ji, chief staff officer Liu Yangzheng, Taoists Li Ziran and Li Rifang, bandit leaders Ling Shiyi and Min Erliu, and Prince Ning's four

His son, Wu Sanba, the leader of the Qianshan bandits who was rescued not long ago, is also among them.

At this moment, the atmosphere in the secret room was unprecedentedly solemn, because the spies arranged by King Ning in Beijing came flying to report yesterday. On that day, the three guards of Prince Ning's palace were dismissed, and three imperial envoys were sent to Nanchang to announce the accusation.

It is said that King Ning has long been disloyal. In the past few years, he secretly planned to build an intelligence line from Nanchang to the capital in order to quickly and timely grasp the intelligence developments in the capital. Therefore, several imperial envoys from the capital have just left.

King Ning, who is thousands of miles away in Beijing, has received the news.

If it hadn't been blocked by wind and snow, Prince Ning would have received the news a few days earlier. As for the postmen sent by the imperial court to reach the front station, they probably only made it halfway.

Ling Shiyi said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, now that the knife is on your neck, the emperor wants your life. You must not hesitate any longer. Do it instead!"

Min Erliu echoed loudly: "Yes, you are against his mother. I am willing to lead troops to capture Nankang and Jiujiang, and go straight to Anqing to capture Nanjing."

Ling Shiyi and Min Twenty-six are both murderous thieves who live a life of licking blood. Naturally, they will not pay attention to the one on the dragon throne. What's more, they are both under the wings of Prince Ning.

They could live such a comfortable life. Once King Ning was stripped of his military power and imprisoned, their good days would come to an end. First of all, Sun Sui of Jiangxi would not let them go. Instead of just sitting back and waiting for death, he might as well give it a go and maybe the rebellion would succeed.

, wouldn’t it be pleasant to be granted the title of king and prime minister in the future, and the title of wife and son?

Wu Sanba smiled ferociously and said: "As long as the prince gives the order, my subordinates will take the head of that old man Sun Sui for the prince."

At the end of September last year, King Ning sent troops to break into Nankang City under the banner of the bandit Ling Shiyi and rescued Wu Sanba, the leader of the Qianshan bandits. He had raised this guy for more than three months, and now his health has recovered to a great extent.

When he mentioned Sun Sui, his eyes flashed fiercely, full of hatred.

Wu Sanba was originally a powerful bandit leader under King Ning. In addition, after being arrested for more than two months, Wu Sanba withstood severe torture and did not confess any of King Ning's crimes. Therefore, he was even more appreciated by King Ning at this time, and his status seemed to have already reached an all-time high.

He is on equal footing with Ling Shiyi and Min Erliu.

After hearing the statements of his three "strong generals", Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao nodded with satisfaction. In fact, he also intended to launch an army to rebel immediately. After so many years of hard work, how could he be willing to be relieved of military power by an imperial edict and bow his head to wait for the imperial envoy to arrive?

What about ransacking your own home?

"Zi Ji, what do you think?" Prince Ning turned his attention to Liu Yangzheng, the chief think tank.

Liu Yangzheng, courtesy name Ziji, was a native of Fu'an County. He was aloof, well-known for his talents, and was well versed in military matters. After passing the imperial examination, he failed in his first examination, so he announced that he would no longer participate in future examinations. Later, he took refuge with Prince Ning and actively participated in the examination.

He made suggestions for Prince Ning and was called the "internal and external prime minister" of Prince Ning's palace together with the eunuch Liu Ji.

At this moment, Liu Yangzheng was not frightened in his heart, but was very excited. This guy thought very highly of himself and often compared himself with Guan Zhong and Liu Bowen.

Who is Liu Bowen?

He was the first person to assist Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang in conquering the Ming Dynasty. He was an expert in astronomy, geography, military and politics. This shows how high Liu Yangzheng’s self-esteem and ambition were. He assisted King Ning in ascending the throne and created a feat comparable to that of Liu Bowen.

This is exactly what Liu Yangzheng expected.

Therefore, Liu Yangzheng stood up, held the hem of his gown with both hands and shook, then knelt down and solemnly said: "I must do my best to assist the prince!"

Liu Yangzheng changed his words and declared himself a minister, and he knelt down and saluted. The meaning was self-explanatory. When others saw this, they all followed suit and shouted loudly: "I (the last general) will do my best to assist the prince!"

Zhu Chenhao was overjoyed and laughed loudly and said: "My dear friends, we are discussing important matters together today. If the Japanese king ascends the throne and becomes emperor, he will definitely not let you down."

At that moment, everyone in the secret room stood up and made suggestions one after another.

Wu Sanba said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, Sun Sui is the biggest constraint. If trouble arises, it must be removed first."

Wu Sanba hated Sun Sui for killing him. In addition, he found out that the second son of the Xie family who had captured him was working as a personal soldier for Sun Sui. This time he just took his revenge together.

A flash of murderous intent flashed in Prince Ning's eyes. Sun Sui, an old man, was always against him and he had wanted to kill him for a long time. He nodded and said, "Do you have any good strategies to get rid of Sun Sui?"

Liu Yangzheng smiled and said: "This is easy. In a few days, the Lantern Festival will be held. At that time, the prince will host a banquet for Nanchang officials, and Sun Sui will definitely attend."

"Zi Ji's wonderful plan!" King Ning was overjoyed when he heard this. When the time comes, he can take advantage of the situation and catch all the local officials in Nanchang. Those who follow me will prosper, and those who go against me will perish.

Eunuch Liu Ji reminded: "Your Majesty, it's only the eighth day of the first lunar month, and there are still seven days before the Lantern Festival. I'm afraid that Sun Sui will have gotten the news from Beijing by then and take action first!"

Prince Ning couldn't help but break out in sweat, nodded and said: "What you said is absolutely true, what should we do?"

Ling Shiyi said coldly: "My lord, don't worry, as long as you send people to guard the post roads, all the messengers coming from the capital will be intercepted and killed, and you will be safe!"

…

On the eighth day of the first lunar month of the 14th year of Zhengde, Xu Jin and his wife set off from Shangrao County and took a carriage to Yugan County. The maid Yue'er accompanied them and Er Niu was responsible for driving the carriage.

The weather was cold, and the roads were muddy and slippery after the rain. It took Xu Jin four days to arrive at Ruihong Town, Yugan County. It was already the twelfth day of the first lunar month, and there were three days before the Shangyuan Festival celebrated by the whole country.

The Xie family's newly bought house is in Ruihong Town. It is a two-door house with a courtyard of nearly 400 square meters. It has ten rooms in the front and back and two small courtyards. It has been renovated and decorated.

It was already afternoon when Xu Jin and others arrived at Ruihong Town. Their father-in-law, Xie Qing, arranged for them to settle down in the front yard. Naturally, the back yard was reserved for Xie Yidao as a wedding room. As newlyweds, it would be better to have a yard to themselves rather than a world for two.

At dusk, as the sky gradually darkened, a sumptuous meal was placed on the table in the front hall of the Xie family's new house.

Xu Jin was wearing a white gown, and his lips were rosy and his teeth were white after a new bath. Xie Xiaowan was sitting next to her husband, smiling sweetly and serving dishes to her brother Xie Sanqiang.

After not seeing each other for several months, Xie Sanqiang has grown taller again. He picks up the rice and eats a bowl of white rice in one go.

"Brother Jin, eat chicken legs!" Mother-in-law Jiang smiled and put a chicken drumstick into Xu Jin's bowl.

Xu Jin glanced at the tiger-headed Xie Sanqiang. The boy was obviously swallowing secretly, so he put the chicken legs into the boy's bowl and said with a smile: "Sanqiang, brother-in-law doesn't like chicken legs, so here you go!"

"Hey, mother, my brother-in-law doesn't like chicken drumsticks, so it's mine!" Xie Sanqiang happily ate the chicken legs.

Jiang couldn't help laughing and scolding: "A foodie knows how to eat!"

Xie Xiaowan took a sweet look at her husband-in-law and put a piece of steamed pork ribs into Xu Jin's bowl.

Xu Jin smiled and asked: "Brother, when will the second brother come back?"

Before Xie Yidao could answer, Mr. Jiang said angrily: "I'm so angry when it comes to this heartless person. He didn't go home to celebrate the Chinese New Year. His eldest brother was getting married and he didn't come back to help with the arrangements. He wrote a letter saying that he wanted to

I can't rush back until the Lantern Festival. I'm just serving as a soldier for the governor. Isn't that too busy?"

Xie Qing glared at his mother-in-law and said, "It would be great if you can take leave and come back. The soldiers have to be on standby around the clock to protect the safety of the general. Otherwise, do you think it is so easy to get five taels of silver per month?"

Jiang murmured: "Xiangyin is high, but you can't treat people like cattle and horses. There is no holiday during the Chinese New Year."

Xu Jin quickly smoothed things over with a smile: "Master Sun will probably be transferred next year. The personal guard will be disbanded. He should find a stable job in the army for his second brother."

Jiang said happily: "Brother Jin, can you seal a thousand households or something?"

"This... depends on the performance of the second brother. If he has made great achievements, this is probably possible!" Xu Jin said sarcastically.

Xie Qing said angrily: "Stop daydreaming, it would be great to have a general manager, and there are thousands of households!"

Jiang was unconvinced and said: "What's wrong with Qianhu? With our two sword skills, we can be a commander, not to mention our ancestors... Hey, brother Jin, eat more, you seem to be thinner.

,Hey, Ya Cai'er, how do you take care of my husband?"

Xie Xiaowan bit her chopsticks aggrievedly, took another look at her husband, who was kept fair and clean by her, and then... put a piece of oily braised pork into Xu Jin's bowl.
Chapter completed!