Long Fei's giant steel ship shocked the world. Some people felt that the Tianlong Empire had become so powerful that it was unmatched. Some people felt that the Tianlong Empire had spent huge manpower and material resources to build such an iron ship, which was of no use at all. It appeared all over the country.
Except for some sections of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River that can be used, other parts cannot be used at all, which is a complete waste of national power.
There are many people in the Wu Kingdom who hold this idea, and Zhang Cheng is one of them. Although the ocean is unknown, it is all water, and that place has no effect. For a country, the best thing is to be on land.
Okay. So Zhang Cheng didn't pay much attention to Long Fei's giant steel ship. On the contrary, he was a little unhappy because of Sun Liang's abnormal behavior.
Zhang Xiu understood why Zhang Cheng was unhappy these days: "Brother, are you still thinking about things in Shatou Town?"
Zhang Cheng looked at him and nodded: "You also heard the conversation between His Majesty and Long Fei that day. The mighty Emperor of Wu actually recognized Long Fei as his uncle. How should the world see us?"
Zhang Xiu smiled: "It's just a title, and everything is in the hands of you and my brothers. If you let him be the emperor, he will be the emperor. If you don't let him do it...!"
Zhang Cheng quickly interrupted Zhang Xiu: "You bastard, you can't say this again. You and I are both ministers of Wu. Don't say anything like this in the future that would lead to rebellion."
Zhang Xiu laughed loudly: "Tell me, what can happen? What are we brothers afraid of?"
Zhang Fen also said: "Yes! If it weren't for our Zhang family's hard support, Wu State would have been destroyed countless times. Not to mention Long Fei, I'm afraid even Zang Ba wouldn't be able to stop him."
Zhang Cheng sighed: "Your Majesty seems to have grown up and has his own ideas. What happened in Shatou Town is very illustrative."
Zhang Xiu said: "Some time ago, your Majesty secretly called some ministers into the palace. I don't know what they were discussing secretly. Later, I heard that it was your Majesty who cried out to those ministers about his experience. If it hadn't been for Wang Changshi's tip, I wouldn't have known.
This group of bastards treat us with respect on weekdays, but they turned against us at the critical moment?"
"Who can be found?" Zhang Cheng asked.
"There are Qi King Sun Fen, Lu King Sun Ba, Wei General Huang Bing, um..." Zhang Xiu thought for a while: "There are also Yuzhang Prefect Gu Shao, partial generals Dong Xi and Zhu Zhi, the whole clan, they are the only ones."
"Oh?" Zhang Cheng frowned: "They are all powerful people. I didn't expect that in just two years, His Majesty has attracted so many people. If we continue to investigate, I want to see what His Majesty wants to do."
After returning from Shatou Town, Sun Liang seemed very lazy. Apart from showing his face in the court every day, he spent the rest of his time reading, practicing calligraphy and playing skills. Occasionally he went hunting in the countryside, and specially selected some people when hunting.
Accompanying me. I feel that Sun Liang is not an emperor, but rather a young master from some family, doing nothing.
According to Zhang Cheng's instructions, Zhang Xiu monitored Sun Liang throughout the day, and even the wet nurse who went to bed at night had to go through Sun Xiu's arrangement. As the days passed, the sun rose from the east and set from the west.
Everyone did whatever they were supposed to do. Sun Liang continued as always, but sometimes he would secretly contact those close ministers. Of course, none of this escaped Zhang Xiu's eyes.
That morning, Zhang Cheng walked up to the palace with a sword hanging on his waist. Everyone was surprised. After everyone's luggage was gone, Zhang Cheng took a seat on the left side of the throne. Following the Chang Shi's call, "If you have something to do, please report it early. If you have nothing to do, dismiss the court."
The sound ended. Some ministers began to play some scattered little things. Zhang Cheng opened his mouth and stopped for Sun Liang. The last one was played by the prefect of Jianye in full.
"Your Majesty, once the Qinhuai River was established in Jianye, the people's lives were ruined. Every household was proud of comparing who had been to the Qinhuai River. According to my statistics, the daily gold harvest from the Qinhuai River was in the millions. However,
The whereabouts of these money are unknown, and I feel that there must be something fishy in this!" Quan Duan looked at Zhang Cheng respectfully and squinted: "I heard that the general has some property in the Qinhuai River, do you know whether it is true or not?"
As soon as Zhang Cheng heard Qinhuaihe's name, he guessed that Quanduan must connect this matter with himself. As expected, Quanduan changed the subject and turned towards him. Zhang Cheng smiled: "Yes, there are indeed some things about Qinhuaihe.
In my name, isn’t it possible that Grand Administrator Quan was not involved?”
Quan Duan smiled: "That's a good question, General. I just stopped yesterday. Don't tell me, our entire family stopped from Qinhuai River. I wonder when General will stop? Many people speculate that Qinhuai River is where Long Fei comes from."
The spies arranged by the State of Wu, the late Emperor was not beguiled by the Qin Cao girl from the Qinhuai River and ended up in this situation. In order to warn future generations, I thought it would be better to uproot places like the Qinhuai River where money is flowing like water.
"
"That's right!" Zhu Ran, the general of the town army, immediately said: "Prefect Quan is right. The general has made preparations, and the troops and horses have been stationed outside the Qinhuai River. As long as His Majesty gives the order, the Qinhuai River can be trampled into pieces of the city immediately.
"
Sun Liang said nothing and turned to look at Zhang Cheng. Everyone else also looked at Zhang Cheng. The Zhang family accounted for the vast majority of the business in Qinhuai River. These businessmen from Jingzhou were very accurate. Zhang Cheng only had money.
Collusion, so to speak. As many prostitutes as there are in the Qinhuai River, the Zhang family accounts for a large proportion of them. A quarter of the money transferred from each place goes into the pockets of the Zhang family. Banning the Qinhuai River will mean to the Zhang family
That's a huge loss.
Zhang Cheng stood up: "Is this what you all mean?"
Some people quickly retreated, and some stood quietly without moving. Only Quan Duan and Zhu Ran responded immediately: "Yes, since the Qinhuai River was built, our country's power has been declining. If we don't eradicate those turbulent people along the Qinhuai River,
Earth, in a few years all the money in our treasury will be thrown into the Qinhuai River."
"Joke! What kind of logic is this?" Zhang Xiu said quickly: "You threw some money in, and now that you have earned enough, you want to kick those businessmen away. If you don't go, they won't force you to go."
Zhuge Jin stood up slowly: "Your Majesty, I think Governor Quan's proposal is very good. The Qinhuai River is indeed not a good place. Back then, the late emperor lost his mind because of the Qinhuai River. The Yin energy here is too strong, and it is not good for me.
The industry is extremely unfavorable, so it would be better to ban it.”
"Father-in-law!" Zhang Cheng shouted quickly.
Zhuge Jin waved his hands and continued: "Now that our country of Wu is in danger, we should use the remaining money to purchase weapons and armor. Rather than spending a lot of money on the Qinhuai River, it is better to get some supplies. How about Long Fei? Our biggest hidden danger
."
Zhang Cheng looked at Zhuge Jin, who nodded slowly. Zhang Cheng then said: "In that case, I will comply with public opinion! Tomorrow, I will send people to throw out all the land immediately, and the treasury will open to close the Qinhuai River!"
"General Shengming!"
Back home, Zhang Cheng's anger finally broke out. Everything in the house was thrown one by one, including several cases, calligraphy and paintings, ceramics, and antiques, with no rules at all. Whatever he grabbed, he threw. He was not angry and wanted the whole family to give up the Qinhuai River.
The most profitable business. Instead, he felt that he was being put together by Quan Duan and Zhu Ran today and was forced to do something. So he was very angry.
"Squeak..." The door was opened. Zhang Cheng didn't even look at it and yelled: "Get out, I don't want to see anyone today!"
"I don't even want to see you anymore?" Zhuge Jin's voice came from behind.
Hearing Zhuge Jin's voice, Zhang Cheng quickly apologized. In the court, he was the general, and Zhuge Jin was the disciple. When he returned home, Zhang Chengke was Zhuge Jin's son-in-law. According to etiquette, he had to salute. Zhang Cheng was about to kneel down.
But he was pulled up by Zhuge Jin: "Come, sit down, I have something to say!"
Zhang Cheng sat down obediently. Zhuge Jin looked at the random thoughts on the ground and sighed: "Quan Duan, Zhu Ran definitely does not have such courage. If I guess correctly, the whole family and the Zhu family are the real masterminds behind the scenes.
!”
Zhang Cheng nodded: "I know everything, but I just can't swallow this breath!"
Zhuge Jin smiled: "This is just their first phase. It won't be long before they attack again. It's better for us to strike first and completely crush their plan."
"Preemptive strike, do you mean to arrest them all?" Zhang Fen asked quickly.
"No, there must be at least a reason for arresting people. You can't do it without the Forbidden City. You have to take stock of the whole family and the Zhu family!" Zhang Cheng was still sober at this time.
"What should we do?" Zhang Fen was confused: "If you can't arrest people, you can't arrest the emperor, right?"
Zhuge Jin smiled slightly: "That's what I mean."
"What?" Zhang Cheng, Zhang Xiu, and Zhang Fen were all shocked: "Capture the emperor?"
Zhuge Jin said: "Isn't the current emperor the one you captured? Since the emperor is not of the same mind as us, there is really no use in keeping him, so it is better..."
"This..." Zhang Cheng hesitated.
Zhang Xiu said: "Brother, my father-in-law is right. Rather than letting this puppet cause trouble for us, it is better to replace him to avoid further trouble."
"No, no, no..." Zhuge Jin waved his hands repeatedly: "That's not what I meant. The emperor is now five years old. As he gets older, his desire for power will become greater and greater. And the various forces in Jiangdong are intertwined.
Although there are many who are dependent on the Zhang family, there are also those who can compete with the Zhang family, such as the whole family and the Zhu family, these two families have joined forces and pose a threat to us."
"What if we don't replace him? Are we going to quarrel with the whole family and the Zhu family?" Zhang Xiu said.
Zhuge Jin smiled: "Do you know why Dong Zhuo wanted to abolish the throne? It was precisely because King Hongnong was old and wanted to get rid of Dong Zhuo, so Dong Zhuo changed the throne to Emperor Xian."
"My father-in-law means..."
"Yes, follow Dong Zhuo's example, depose the current majesty, and establish a new king!"
Several people all fell silent. This matter is a big deal. Although force is possible, the risk is very high. The whole family, the Zhu family will definitely not agree, and it might be a bloodbath. In addition, if the current emperor is killed, he will immediately
Who is it? Sun Liang is the youngest of Sun Quan's sons. After thinking for a long time, Zhang Cheng looked at Zhuge Jin and said, "Who does my father-in-law think is a good choice?"
Zhuge Jin smiled: "When you abolish the elders and establish the young, naturally the younger the better. Sun Hao, the son of the late deposed prince Sun He, has just turned one year old, which is a good time."