In Qianqing Palace, Emperor Hongxi was feeling well today. He was wondering if he should do something he loved, when he heard the eunuch report: "Your Excellency, please see me."
Seeing Yang Shiqi leaving and returning, he knew something important must be going on, so Emperor Hongxi hurriedly announced his meeting. When he saw Yang Shiqi's nose and face were bruised and swollen, Zhu Gaochi became furious and said: "Whoever dares to hurt my thigh and humerus, I will make the decision for the chief assistant!" Co-authored with him He complained to Yang Shiqi as if he had been bullied.
"Wang Xian..." Yang Shiqi covered half of his face and replied vaguely.
"Wang Xian?" Zhu Gaochi asked in surprise: "He is thousands of miles away, how can he hit you?"
"What the old minister means is that this incident started because of Wang Xian..." Yang Shiqi endured the pain and told the story of the incident.
"Didn't I tell you that you, the chief minister, have a rich body, how can you dress like a white dragon fish and risk yourself in the market?" Zhu Gaochi couldn't laugh or cry after hearing this. He wanted to say, how can you, a high-ranking chief minister, go to talk to ordinary people? Quarreling, but that was too hurtful, so I changed it to a polite way of saying it.
"Actually, the old minister didn't say anything, so he suffered like this." Yang Shiqi sighed and said, "But these are all trivial matters. The big thing is Wang Xian's prestige among the people now!" After a pause, Yang Shiqi said alarmingly: "It's full. The streets are talking about how powerful Wang Xian is, but no one praises His Majesty! Let him win a few more games, and the people will probably only know that there is a Duke, and not know that there is an emperor!"
"No." Zhu Gaochi shook his head and said: "The Duke of Zhen Guo is protecting the country and killing the enemy on the front line. We can't be so suspicious of him in the capital." He said with an emphasis, as if he was emphasizing to Yang Shiqi, but also as if he was emphasizing to himself. Said: "Although the siege of the King's City has been solved now, the military report also said that in fact, the main force of the Tatars has not been damaged and is equivalent to our army's strength. The next outcome is still unknown. We still have to unite sincerely to ensure everything is done." Put the overall situation first.”
"What the emperor said is absolutely true. Is this veteran someone who doesn't care about the overall situation?" Yang Shiqi said in a low voice: "The veteran just reminded the emperor that Wang Xian's reputation cannot be allowed to continue to rise. This has nothing to do with the victory of this battle, but It’s about the stability of the country!”
"How could I not know that the first assistant has been thinking so hard for me?" Zhu Gaochi pondered for a moment, looked at Yang Shiqi and said, "What good ideas do you have?"
"It's very simple, just to guide public opinion a little bit," Yang Shiqi habitually stroked his beard, but his appearance at the moment was not at all elegant. However, this did not affect the intelligence of the chief minister, so he heard him say in a deep voice : "First of all, we must emphasize the wise leadership of the emperor and the full support of the six ministries. Secondly, we must let the people know that it was the defenders of Hetao and Wang Xian's troops who held the city for more than a month and wiped out more than 50,000 Tatar troops. It doesn’t matter. Finally, I would like to emphasize that the Tatars lost only miscellaneous troops, and the real main force was not damaged..."
Zhu Gaochi nodded slightly when he heard this. Yang Shiqi was indeed a cunning person. Every sentence he said was true, but when added together, it completely changed the flavor, erasing almost all of Wang Xian's contributions without leaving a trace...
"Isn't this a bit too much..." After all, Zhu Gaochi still had feelings for Wang Xian, and felt that he was too sorry for him. Because the emperor knew very well that without Wang Xian's army, the Great King's City would have fallen long ago, and there would be no chance to go there. Counterattack against the enemy. In fact, everything came from Wang Xian, not to mention that he also sent 10,000 troops to scare away Arutai and block the remaining troops of his.
"Your Majesty, everything the veteran said is true, and it is also for the good of the country." Yang Shiqi said calmly: "At the moment, the main force of the Tatars is still there, and the outcome is not yet known. What if the bullshit is too big?
The Duke of Shizhen didn’t end well either.”
Zhu Gaochi looked at Yang Shiqi with wide eyes, sighed for a while and said: "What you said makes sense, and I can't refute it."
So the matter was settled.
The emperor and his ministers agreed, and Zhu Gaochi put Yang Shiqi in charge of the matter. Yang Shiqi quickly made arrangements to print many copies of the compiled newspaper and post them all over the city.
The people in the capital, who were still immersed in joy, could not wait to know the details of the battle. They wanted to see how wise the Duke of Zhen was and how brave the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were in killing the enemy, so that they could continue bragging and celebrating at night.
Therefore, as soon as the official newspaper of the imperial court was posted, it immediately attracted circles of people to watch. In order to let the common people clearly understand the contents of the newspaper, the imperial court also thoughtfully arranged hundreds of officials to stand by.
Read the contents of the Di newspaper over and over again for the common people.
"This battle was thanks to the emperor's strategic planning and the full support of the six ministries. Especially in the Hetao area, the defenders were brave and tenacious. They held on to the King's City for more than a month and wiped out more than 50,000 Tatar troops with almost no help from the official army! However,
, all the Tatars lost were miscellaneous troops, the real main force was not damaged, and the outcome is not yet known..."
With the rising and falling voice of the clerk reading the newspaper, the excitement of the people gradually dimmed, replaced by an indescribable feeling of loss...
"Why does it sound like there is nothing wrong with the Duke of Zhen?"
"Yeah, haven't you heard? It's mainly due to the efforts of the defenders of Hetao. Our king's division only played a minor role at most."
"There is a lot of water in the record. Those who were eliminated were all miscellaneous. The real Tatar main force is completely fine!"
"Hey, let me tell you, it was the first time that the Duke of Zhen led his troops to go on an expedition. How could he be so powerful..."
"Happiness in vain..."
"Why are you so happy for nothing? I slapped someone in vain..."
The people talked a lot and shook their heads. Although the joy of victory was still there, the hero in their hearts disappeared...
It has to be said that Yang Shiqi's trick was very clever. The people who originally admired Wang Xian very much found out after reading the Di newspaper that what they knew was quite different from the 'facts'. It turned out that the Duke of Zhen was not as those rumors said.
So brave, so clever and clever. The joy in the hearts of the people was gradually dissipating, and some even felt that the Duke of Zheng was nothing more than that. The victory in this battle only relied on the layout and arrangements of the imperial court.
In the evening, the content of the Di newspaper had been spread throughout the city, and the people who were originally overjoyed gradually calmed down. Some even felt that this victory belonged to others and had nothing to do with them. As for how to take good care of themselves,
The thoughts of celebrating naturally gradually faded away...
The instigator of all this, Yang Shiqi, ignored the pain in his mouth and face and happily drank the wine that the emperor had just given. The only drawback was that his mouth still leaked a little, and the wine spilled on his chest, making him look very unsightly...
… .
Early the next morning, the sun rose as usual, and few people in the capital talked about yesterday's good news. Even if someone did start the conversation, it was quickly moved elsewhere, and the people were actually a little embarrassed to mention it.
.
Because of his injury, Yang Shiqi did not work in the cabinet, but rarely sat in the hall drinking millet porridge. I heard people say that the people read the newspaper last night and had mixed praise and criticism for Wang Xian, so they knew that his plan was a big deal.
Offsetting Wang Xian's reputation among the people, this was what he expected. He had already celebrated in advance last night. Therefore, at this time, the chief assistant just blew the gruel in the bowl gently, and the corners of his mouth twitched.
Show a smile.
After breakfast, Yang Shiqi felt that his face was still burning, so he ordered the imperial doctor to change his dressing. At this moment, he suddenly heard the sound of people outside, the roar of gongs and drums, and the sound of firecrackers. Yang Shiqi originally
I thought it was someone who was marrying the daughter-in-law, but after listening to it for a while, I thought it was not the case. Because the noise was heard from the east, west, north and south, how could there be any reason for the whole city to get married in a group?
Yang Shiqi was in a good mood, so he called a servant over and said, "Go and take a look. What's happening with such a lively atmosphere outside?"
That servant usually had no chance to accompany the chief assistant. At this moment, he was given the task by the chief assistant himself. He ran out in a flash. As he ran, he screamed in his heart: "I must seize this opportunity and become the master's follower. I will stand there."
Reach the pinnacle of life!'
After tea, the servant rushed back from outside, rushed into the house with a face full of ecstasy, and reported to Yang Shiqi in the loudest voice: "Master, what a joy, what a joy!" On the way, he had already prepared the fight.
The manuscript started crackling as soon as it came in: "The imperial court received another good news. Three days ago, the Duke of Zhen led the king's division to defeat 40,000 Tatar main cavalry at the Tabu River..."
Yang Shiqi was drinking tea. Because of the injury on his mouth, his movements were strange. He carefully brought the tea bowl to his lips, then gently raised it, ready to pour some tea into his mouth... At this moment, that next
People rushed in, yelling and screaming. The chief assistant shook his hand in shock and put a tea bowl on his face. There was scalding hot tea in it!
Yang Shiqi screamed and almost fainted from the pain. When the attendant wiped him clean, he saw a bright red mark on the center of the chief minister's face, from mouth to nose...
Yang Shiqi ignored the pain and stared at the frightened servant: "What nonsense did you just say?"
"Sir," the servant timidly replied, "Our army has won a great victory." He no longer expected to reach the peak of his life. He only hoped that the chief assistant would be happy after hearing the news of the victory and spare him this time.
"Didn't everyone in the city know about it yesterday?" Yang Shiqi was furious, thinking that all his efforts yesterday were in vain? Besides, if we didn't fire off the cannon yesterday, what kind of cannon would we fire off today? Yang Shiqi's mind raced, and he immediately thought that this might be Wang
The wise man was fighting back against himself. After thinking about this clearly, the Chief Assistant sneered: "Some people are really shameless, and they will only make the people despise them even more!"
But I heard the servant whisper again: "It's not for yesterday's great victory, but for today's great victory..."
"What's yesterday, what's today, do you think it's the old hens laying eggs, one after another?" Yang Shiqi glared at the annoying guy impatiently. The entourage on the side shouted angrily: "Speak clearly!"
The servant was so frightened that he could not speak.
At this time, a minister of the Ministry of War quickly walked in, came to Yang Shiqi, and reported in a deep voice: "Chief Assistant, the court received another good news today. Three days ago, the Duke of Zhen led our army to intercept 40,000 Tabu troops at the Tabu River.
The main cavalry of Tartar killed 20,000 enemies and captured nearly 10,000 horses." After saying that, the servant looked strange and said: "Now the people all over the city don't know where they got the news, they are all beating gongs, drums and setting off firecrackers..."