On the eighth day of the fourth month of the Ming Dynasty, Cui Changwu, the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty cabinet, was sitting in the lobby of his residence, sipping new tea from Baoding Prefecture, North Zhili.
Suddenly, a peach blossom petal flew out of the window and landed on Cui Changwu's coffee table.
Cui Changwu raised his head and looked outside in surprise, only to see outside the glass window a peach tree that was already blooming in the wind.
Cui Changwu looked at it for a long time and couldn't help but sing: "The peach blossoms shine brightly."
Looking away from the peach tree, Cui Changwu put down the teacup and shook his head.
The emperor has not been in court for almost two months. Since the new army in the Beijing camp was mobilized, the emperor has abandoned all regular government affairs. Now the emperor only cares about the military situation in various places, and continues to issue imperial edicts from the Qianqing Palace to mobilize soldiers and horses from all over the country. The border troops from various towns were vaguely deployed to surround Tianjin.
There were piles of memorials from all over the cabinet in the cabinet, and the emperor's eunuchs did not come to pick up any of them. By this month, Cui Changwu was too lazy to draft them, and just let the memorials pile up on the desk. If the emperor did not go to court, Cui Changwu simply gave up. I gave myself a long vacation and enjoyed the rare leisure time at home.
But this leisure time is getting more and more dangerous.
I don’t know since when, the door of Cui Changwu, the dignified chief minister of the cabinet, has become a deserted situation. The civil servants in the capital avoid Cui Changwu, and the military attachés are even more afraid of having the slightest relationship with Cui Changwu. The doorman of Cui Changwu’s house has been there for several days. Can't welcome a single guest.
Cui Changwu sighed.
Cui Qi, the housekeeper of the Cui family, suddenly ran in from the door carrying a bag of groceries with a panicked look on his face.
"Master! Master is not good!"
Cui Changwu looked at Cui Qi who ran in in a panic, thought for a while and said nothing.
Cui Qi knelt on the ground with a bang and shouted loudly: "Master, we can't wait any longer in the capital, get out of the city quickly!"
Cui Changwu sighed and asked: "The emperor finally announced the list?"
Cui Qi was stunned and asked: "Master, how do you know?"
Cui Changwu was silent for a while and then said slowly: "Tianjin City's only 50,000 soldiers have mobilized another 10,000 to go north to attack the Baiyi. The emperor, who has been hesitating for two months, should make up his mind."
Cui Qi was stunned by Cui Changwu's words and looked at Cui Changwu in panic.
"Master, this time the emperor is really going to send troops to attack the prince, sir! The prince has been labeled a traitor! Sir, since you knew that such a day would come, why are you still staying in the capital?"
"Master, if the emperor wants to attack the King of Qi, he will be the first to come and get him! Master! All the gates in the capital are under martial law! If you don't think of a way out, you may be killed by the emperor's fan!"
Cui Changwu trembled slightly when he heard this.
Obviously, Cui Changwu was also afraid of death and having his head chopped off by Dongchang fanzi.
He took a breath, forced himself to calm down, picked up the tea cup, took a sip, and said: "Cui Qi, the gangsters sealed the city gate but did not come to take us, just hoping that we would disguise ourselves and run away in despair. We can't leave."
"Master, why can't we leave?"
Cui Changwu paused and said: "Cui Qi, we are people in the court of King Qi. We are sent by King Qi to revitalize the Ming Dynasty. I, Cui Changwu, have worked hard in the past few years to reform the Ming Dynasty in accordance with the ideas of public morality and legal system. It benefits the people of Ming Dynasty."
"Everything we do in the court is upright and impeccable."
"Now that the emperor is gradually losing power and popular support, he suddenly launches an attack on the King of Qi who is outnumbered. This is perverse! The emperor is destroying justice and popular support in the world."
"We have done nothing wrong. We cannot escape. We work for the people of the world. Why should we be escaping rats? We should disguise ourselves and escape from the capital? We should sit here upright and scold the emperor for his perverse behavior."
"Now is a critical moment for the prince's career. We must do it openly and let the people of the world understand who is going against the grain and who is benefiting China!"
Cui Qi was stunned when he heard these words.
"Master...why are you so old-fashioned? You are using your life to gain fame..."
Cui Changwu took a breath and said: "Cui Qi, it's not that I, Cui Changwu, am attached to a false reputation, it's actually that the prince really needs a righteous name at this time. I, Cui Changwu, can die, but the prince must not be regarded as a traitor and traitor by the people of the world!"
Cui Qi looked at Cui Changwu and couldn't help but shed two tears.
"master…"
Before Mr. Cui Qi finished his sentence, a din of soldiers and horses suddenly came from outside the Cui family compound. What was heard was the sound of heavy footsteps, the friction of armor and the collision of swords and scabbards.
Cui Qi opened his mouth wide and said: "Fanzi... Fanzi is here..."
After a quarter of an hour, it seemed that Dongchang gangsters surrounded the entire Cui Mansion. Wang Dehua, the eunuch of Dongchang, donned his embroidered spring knife, knocked open Cui Changwu's door with a sullen face, and led people into Cui Mansion.
Wang Dehua was stunned when he saw Cui Changwu sitting in the lobby with his eyes closed.
With his brows almost raised, Wang Dehua glared at Cui Changwu and shouted: "Traitor Cui Changwu! How dare you sit in this high hall?"
Cui Changwu opened his eyes and looked at Wang Dehua.
"Wang Dehua, why can't I sit upright in the high hall?"
Seeing Cui Changwu's calm look, Wang Dehua was a little angry and sneered and said: "Cui Changwu! Li Zhi has rebelled and rebelled! He has been ordered by the emperor to be punished by the whole world. You have helped the tyrants to commit evil and have been labeled as rebels. Why don't you run away?"
Cui Changwu looked at Wang Dehua coldly and said with a smile: "I have a clear conscience, how could I escape?"
Wang Dehua now wanted to see Cui Changwu disguise himself and run away in embarrassment, or even disguise himself as a woman and escape and be captured on the spot. In that way, the court could publicize Cui Changwu's ugly appearance to the world and make the world despise Li Zhi.
He really didn't expect Cui Changwu to be so stubborn and look like he was about to collapse without changing his expression.
Wang Dehua waved his hand, and the Dongchang gangsters rushed forward and pushed Cui Changwu up from the chair.
Wang Dehua sneered and said: "Cui Changwu, don't be proud. Your crime is treason, which is the crime of punishing the nine tribes. When the soldiers from the Beijing camp capture Tianjin, all the wives, children and children you left behind in Tianjin will be beheaded. Even your sister
Cui He cannot escape the fate of death! "
When Cui Changwu heard this, he raised his head and laughed as if he had heard a big joke.
"Capture Tianjin? Hahahaha!"
Wang Dehua was a little embarrassed by Cui Changwu's laughter, and roared angrily:
"There are 200,000 people in the Beijing camp, and there are 160,000 border troops sent at the same time. Our number is nearly ten times that of Tianjin's 40,000 people. Do you, Cui Changwu, think the Huben army is a magic soldier and a heavenly general?"
Cui Changwu stopped laughing and shook his head.
"Wang Dehua, you have to understand that the gap between the emperor and the king of Qi cannot be bridged ten times."
Wang Dehua's eyes widened and he didn't understand where Cui Changwu got his confidence.
He shouted angrily: "Take this traitor who knows nothing about heaven and earth and bring him down and interrogate him severely!" 1
