When Zhao Hongrun was woken up by Zongwei Shen Yu in a daze the next day, he realized that he had fallen asleep lying on his side in the front hall.
The blanket covering him was most likely covered by the clan guards who got up in the middle of the night.
"What time is it?"
Zhao Hongrun sat up and stretched his muscles. Since he fell asleep thinking about countermeasures until late at night yesterday, his muscles were a little sore at the moment.
"It's almost noon."
"Oh." Zhao Hongrun stretched and yawned: "Is lunch ready?"
"I have already met with the Shanshan Bureau. Also..."
"Huh?"
Under Zhao Hongrun's puzzled gaze, Shen Yu bent down and said in a low voice: "Your Highness, the news that Gao Kuo just found out is that something happened to the Chu State envoy."
"..." Zhao Hongrun was stunned for a moment, but still kept stretching, almost losing his temper: "What? An envoy from Chu State? What happened?"
"He was intercepted and killed." Shen Yu lowered his voice and said, "Near Yongqiu."
Zhao Hongrun took a slight breath when he heard this. You should know that he was still having a headache last night about how to persuade those envoys from Chu to retreat. Now, this problem is solved.
"When was the news? Who discovered it?"
"It was only sent to the court this morning. It was discovered by the team heading to Yongqiu to greet the Chu envoy." Shen Yu replied.
According to the etiquette of diplomatic relations, the Chu envoy's team could not directly enter Daliang. In order to show respect for Emperor Wei, they would rest for a few days before entering the Daliang area according to the rules. At the same time, they would send someone to submit their credentials to Daliang. Only through Wei The emperor agreed and sent a team to greet the envoy, so that the Chu envoy's team could enter Daliang.
Unexpectedly, when the Emperor of Wei sent Shangshu You of the Ministry of Rites, several other officials, and General Lu Jing of the Guards with a group of soldiers to Yongqiu to greet the Chu envoy, he was shocked to find that the Chu envoy's team had been They were intercepted and killed near Yongqiu.
Nearly two hundred people, no one survived!
The horrified Shangshu You of the Ministry of Rites discussed with General Lu Jing of the Wei, and asked the latter to seal off Yongqiu, while he quickly returned to the Daliang court to report the matter to the emperor.
The Chu envoy was attacked and no one survived.
As soon as this news reached Daliang, it immediately caused an uproar in the court. According to the news learned by Zongwei Gao Kuo, Emperor Wei urgently summoned important ministers in the court in the morning to discuss countermeasures in Chui Gong Hall.
"Are you still in Chui Gong Hall at this moment?"
Zhao Hongrun asked curiously.
Shen Yu nodded: "Most likely still."
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun said nothing and did not bother to have lunch. He left Mu Qing to take care of Princess Yulong who was temporarily staying in Wenzhao Pavilion, and rushed directly to Chui Gong Hall with Shen Yu, Gao Kuo and other clan guards.
"You stay here, Your Highness, and I'll go in and take a look."
After instructing the clan guards to wait outside the Chui Gong Hall, Zhao Hongrun walked into the Chui Gong Hall alone.
As expected, at this time in the Chui Gong Hall, all the ministers were talking about it. In addition to the three ministers, Zhao Hongrun also met a dozen other ministers.
Zhao Hongrun did not speak, but stood aside and listened quietly to the discussions of the courtiers.
Emperor Wei obviously noticed his son and glanced at Zhao Hongrun while sitting on the dragon throne, but he didn't express anything.
Seeing this, the eunuch Tong Xian understood the situation and moved a stool for Zhao Hongrun so that he could sit and listen.
Nodding to Tong Xian as a thank you, Zhao Hongrun turned his attention to the ministers in the palace, wanting to hear their opinions on this matter.
At this time, the ministers in the palace were still arguing about the murderer of the attack on the Chu envoy.
Some ministers believed that this incident might be the work of rebellious ministers and traitors of the Wei Kingdom, with the intention of causing Wei to fall into foreign chaos; while other ministers believed that those who attacked the Chu envoys were not necessarily Wei people, but could also be Chu people. and came up with a name.
Xiong Tuo, Lord of Chu Yangcheng
Zhao Hongrun found that when the name was mentioned, the courtiers who were arguing suddenly fell silent. This made him somewhat confused. Why was the Chu envoy's team attacked, but another Chu man was suspected?
"Eunuch Tong, who is Xiong Tuo? Why do the ministers suspect that this Chu man attacked the Chu envoy?"
Zhao Hongrun asked in a low voice.
As expected, Tong Xian was indeed the eunuch who served the emperor and knew a lot. When Zhao Hongrun asked about it, he explained to him in a low voice.
It turns out that the state structure of the Chu State is different from that of the Wei Dynasty. Because the territory is too vast, the previous Chu kings enfeoffed many royal families and their sons, gave them territories, and allowed them to form armies. In the words of the Wei Dynasty, , almost equivalent to a vassal king, except that the Chu State does not call these royal families and public descendants "kings" who own territories, but calls them "jun". The only king in their country is King Xiong Ze of Chu.
The largest branch of the princes and nobles in Chu State is the Xiong family, with the surname Mi. Note: The most formal name for the name of an ancient noble is "family name" plus "name". For example, if Zhao Hongrun is written into the history books, then It is "Prince Ji Run" or the older "Gongzi Run", and it is more popular to call it "Zhao Hongrun". By the way, "Hong" is an additional word that is equivalent to explaining seniority, and is generally not mentioned in formal occasions.
The king of Yangcheng, Xiong Tuo (Mi Tuo), was one of the bloodlines of the Xiong family of the princes and nobles of Chu. His fiefdom was in the south of Yingshui County, and he was the most ferocious person who fought against the Wei Dynasty in recent years. The princes and nobles of Chu.
According to what Tong Xian revealed, Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, had a grudge against the Wei Dynasty. To be precise, he had a grudge against the Emperor of Wei.
Because ten years ago, Emperor Wei and Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng of Chu, joined forces to attack the Song Dynasty. At first, they agreed to divide the Song Dynasty equally, but later, when the Emperor of Wei destroyed the Song Dynasty, he placed the king of Yangcheng in terms of food and grass. Xiong Tuo worked together. As a result, Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, served as the vanguard of the Wei Dynasty for half a year in vain and conquered most of the Song Dynasty. In the end, due to the insufficient supply of food and grass in the army, he had to return to Yingshui County, so The Emperor of Wei happily included the entire Song Kingdom into the territory of the Wei Dynasty and changed its name to Song County.
Later, Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, wrote a letter asking Emperor Wei to give up half of the Song Dynasty, but everyone knew that there was no reason to spit out the meat after eating it. What's more, Chu State was a potential powerful enemy, so Emperor Wei used various methods to As an excuse, I refused to hand over half of the Song Dynasty, oh, it was Song County.
As a result, Xiong Tuo, the Lord of Yangcheng, became enemies with the Wei Dynasty. He had a grudge and attacked the Wei Dynasty whenever he had nothing to do over the years. If Wei Dynasty had not had Fenxing Fortress, it would have been difficult to resist the evil of Xiong Tuo, the Lord of Yangcheng City. Biting like a dog.
It is precisely because of this that Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, was pointed out by the ministers as one of the suspects in the attack on the Chu envoy. After all, the Chu envoy's team passed by Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, from the capital of Chu State. The territory then passed through Fenxing Fortress before arriving at Yongqiu. Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, had the opportunity to add some people to the team.
As for why he did this, it is not difficult to understand. After all, he has enmity with the Wei Dynasty, and he alone, the Yangcheng Lord, cannot swallow the behemoth of the Wei Dynasty. If he wants to capture the territory of the Wei Dynasty, Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo Wei had to unite with other uncles and brothers of the same clan, and even the King of Chu.
And the Chu envoy's team died within the territory of Wei, which would be a good excuse for Chu to attack Wei.
"Xiong Tuo is determined to destroy our Wei Dynasty. If this is really what he did, I am afraid that our Wei Dynasty will face a fierce battle." Li Huan, Minister of the Ministry of War, let out a long sigh, then raised his hands and said to the Emperor of Wei: "Your Majesty, I think that your Majesty should take action immediately. The letter of credence explains this matter to the King of Chu..."
"How to explain it?" Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, said with a wry smile: "With no proof and no evidence, how can the King of Chu believe that it was Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng?"
"That's wrong!" Li Huan, Minister of War, retorted: "The innocent killing of the Chu envoy team is simply a deliberate attempt to provoke Wei and Chu into war... I, the great Wei Dynasty, have no reason to say so much. I believe the King of Chu can also see clearly. Therefore, I think that Your Majesty should immediately write a letter of credence to the King of Chu to dispel his suspicion. If the delay is too long and the King of Chu realizes something is wrong first, it will make the Wei Dynasty feel guilty. At that time, the King of Chu would most likely have a misunderstanding."
"I think that at this moment, it cannot be said that it was Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng. I sincerely ask your Majesty to allow me to investigate this matter in detail..." Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, said quickly: "If it is later found out that this matter was done by people from the Wei Dynasty, , but I, the Great Wei, have tainted this matter with Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng. At that time, how will I, the Great Wei, explain this matter to the State of Chu?"
Zhao Hongrun was listening to the discussions among these ministers. After listening for a long time, he finally got some clues.
It turned out that what these ministers were arguing about was whether they should tell the King of Chu immediately about this matter, and what kind of explanation they should use to explain this matter.
After all, the Chu envoy's team was intercepted and killed near Yongqiu in the hinterland of the Wei Dynasty. Anyone who could do this must be someone from the Chu envoy's team, otherwise, it is most likely that the Zhongzang of the Wei Dynasty There is an unknown force that intends to plunge the Wei Dynasty into war.
Compared to the fact that it was Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, the latter guess was even more shocking. It was precisely because of this that Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, couldn't wait to find out about this matter.
But the difficulty is that it will take some time to investigate this matter. If the Wei side temporarily suppresses the news in order to investigate the matter, but the Chu State gets some information, it will be troublesome. For example, the Ministry of War As Shangshu Li Huan said, by then, even if the King of Chu rationally believed that Wei would not do such a thing, he would still be suspicious because of Wei's concealment.
Even killing the Chu envoy would not do any good to the Wei Dynasty.
The final result of the discussion was that Emperor Wei listened to the suggestion of Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment: to temporarily block the news and let the Ministry of Punishment investigate the matter.
There was no way, after all, the Chu envoy's team was intercepted and killed in Yongqiu, the hinterland of the Wei Dynasty, and the Wei Dynasty had an unshirkable responsibility for this.
If the evidence can be found in time to prove that Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng City of Chu, deliberately put the blame on him, then the Wei Dynasty can naturally get out of the matter and just tell the king of Chu about the matter. The king of Chu will punish Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng city. Extension.
To take a step back, if it is really the work of some ambitious unknown forces in the Wei Dynasty, then the top priority is to find out these people and use them to appease the anger of the King of Chu. Although the Wei Dynasty will also be jointly and severally responsible, But in the end it will not lead to a situation where the two countries are at war with each other.
However, the reality turned towards the worst situation. Zhou Yan, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, mobilized soldiers and guards to conduct a thorough investigation of dozens of miles around and the route of the Chu envoy. The investigation lasted for half a month, but they still could not find out who it was. What you did.
This is troublesome, because usually envoys sent to other countries will write letters to report the progress of their missions every few days. Now that there is no news for half a month, how can the King of Chu not be suspicious?
In the end, the news that the Chu envoys were all killed in the attack spread, and some Chu spies in the Wei Dynasty spread the news to Chu.
Although it is not clear what kind of disturbance this incident caused in the Chu State, the result is obvious. The important ministers of the Chu State believed that this was a legitimate opportunity to attack the Wei State.
As a result, under the guidance of Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, who had a grudge against the Emperor of Wei, Chu State summoned its army in late September and at the same time sent people to submit a letter of war to Wei State.