Just an hour after Xiahou De and Zeng Xinran were talking, in the largest brothel in Qingzhou City, a young man in his thirties, wearing silk and satin, hurriedly walked into a room on the second floor of the brothel.?
After the man opened the door, he immediately said: "Lao Lu, why did you have to call me here today? I finally got out until His Highness King Qi went in to drink."
"But you also know His Highness Prince Qi's temper. Whenever Bao Buqi thinks of something, he can call me. If I am punished by His Highness Prince Qi, I will have to settle the score with you!"
After the man finished speaking, he noticed that the 'Lao Lu' he mentioned was not the only one in the room, but there were four other people there. He was stunned for a moment, and then said: "Why, Lao Lu, do you call them Xiao Zhao and Lao Chen too?"
What are you doing here?"
The 'old road' in his mouth was the judge of Prince Qi's Mansion, named Lu Yuan. At this time, he looked serious and said to him: "Xiao Jia, sit down, I have something important to tell you about the life and death of the six of us.
."
The man who spoke loudly when he came in was the commander of the central guard among the three guards of King Qi, and also served as the commander of the guards of King Qi's palace. His name was Jia Shiming. When he saw Lu Yuan's expression, he was a little confused.
He found a place to sit down and immediately asked: "What's going on? What happened?"
Lu Yuan looked around, seeing doubts on the faces of other people who had arrived a little earlier than Jia Shiming, and said in a deep voice: "The imperial court sent an envoy today, do you all know that?"
Everyone nodded, but only Jia Shiming said: "The imperial court sent an envoy?" He really didn't know about this.
Lu Yuan said: "Well, today the imperial court sent an envoy, saying that there is a decree to be given to His Highness King Qi."
Another person wiped his mouth at this time and said: "Is this important?"
"This must be the memorial from Zeng Xinran, the censor who came to Qingzhou a while ago, and it arrived in the capital, and then the court reacted."
Lu Yuan didn't need to raise his head to know that this was in the name of being a companion, but in fact it was Chen Lianyu who was collecting money for King Qi who was speaking.
From afar, he heard Chen Lianyu continue to say: "But when His Highness King Qi did such evil, Emperor Taizu did not do anything to His Highness King Qi. He just called him to the capital and reprimanded him. After being educated in the capital for a year and a half,
He also asked His Highness King Qi to return to the Qingzhou fiefdom."
"Although your majesty is not as close to the vassal kings as Emperor Taizu, he is particularly trusting. Therefore, your majesty is just reprimanding King Qi. What else can you do?"
After listening to Chen Lianyu's words, several other people also looked in agreement.
Lu Yuan said: "I originally thought so, but I just learned that His Majesty will severely punish His Highness King Qi this time. And, it is not an ordinary severe punishment, His Majesty will abolish His Highness King Qi's position as a prince this time!"
"What!" Five voices said the same thing. Everyone else, including Jia Shiming and Chen Lianyu, looked surprised, and six pairs of eyes stared straight at Lu Yuan.
Zhao Zhijing, who held the title of bodyguard of Prince Qi's palace and was actually secretly doing dirty work for Prince Qi Zhu Shu, was the first to react and said to Lu Yuan: "Lao Lu, how did you know about this? How did you know the content of the imperial edict?
?You can’t have any friendship with the person who was sent to convey the order. I heard that this is a young man from Zhongshushe, and he has not been an official for a long time."
Zhao Zhijing subconsciously doubted the authenticity of what Lu Yuan said. He was really unwilling to accept the news, so he found a reason to question it.
In fact, others found it difficult to accept this matter, so when they heard Zhao Zhijing's words, they all looked at Lu Yuan as if they were grasping at straws, as if hoping that he could not answer the question and then admit that they were talking nonsense.
Lu Yuan sneered in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face. He said to Zhao Zhijing and others: "Of course I have my own way." Then Lu Yuan talked about how he knew.
It turned out that when Zeng Xinran was talking to Xiahou De yesterday, the Yizu who happened to pass by their door was a relative of Lu Yuan. After Lu Yuan came to Zhu Siji, although he did not do anything good, many relatives came to seek refuge with Lu Yuan.
Yuan. Although Lu Yuan was annoyed by these relatives, he couldn't take care of them, so he arranged for a few people to eat royal food, and one of them arranged to go to the inn in Qingzhou City.
The work of the post station is very difficult. Qingzhou is a fiefdom of the King of Qi, and there are many officials passing by every year. If everything is done according to the wishes of all the officials who pass by, the expenses will be too high. When the year-end statistics are compiled, corruption may be regarded as the reason.
In name, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered his head to be chopped off; but if he offends someone who shouldn't be offended, it won't last long.
This relative of Lu Yuan is still a bit clever, so he has been working at the post station for five or six years and is still doing it smoothly. Because Xiahou De came from the capital to deliver the order, and he was from Zhongshu She, he probably couldn't afford to offend him, so he thought
Xianxian Zhenqin came outside Xiahou De's house and overheard the conversation between Xiahou De and Zeng Xinran.
Although Xiahou De and Zeng Xinran did not speak loudly on purpose, they were not particularly careful to prevent others from hearing them, so this relative from Lu Yuan heard their conversation almost completely.
Lu Yuan's relative was also quite clever and knew that his position was obtained by relying on Lu Yuan. If the King of Qi was severely punished by the court, Lu Yuan would probably be punished, so he gave Xiahou De and the others the instructions.
After feeding the horses they brought with them concentrate feed, they immediately went to the city and informed Lu Yuan of the matter.
When Lu Yuan heard this, he immediately became nervous, and without caring about anything else, he came to the inn to find out what the content of the imperial edict was.
Lu Yuan originally wanted to take a sneak peek while they were eating, but he didn't expect that Xiahou De was very careful to bring the imperial edict with him when he went to eat, which made Lu Yuan's plan fail.
However, Lu Yuan had many tricks up his sleeve, and if his plan didn't work, he immediately came up with another one. He asked the people at the inn to put a little laxative in the meals of Xiahou De and his party, and then waited until they were all rushing to go to the toilet and secretly went in to clean them.
A glance at the content of the imperial edict.
After Lu Yuan saw the contents of the imperial edict, he was immediately frightened out of his mind. At that time, he was covered in cold sweat and was stunned. His relative, who had not seen the imperial edict, was able to stay awake and brought Lu Yuan out.
Lu Yuan calmed down at his home for a while, thought about it for a while, and then decided on the plan. He immediately called over Zhao Zhijing and the other five people who usually worked in collusion with him and were the accomplices of Qi King Zhu Shu.
Lu Yuan finished explaining how he knew the contents of the imperial edict, then looked at the other five people and said, "Do you still doubt what I said?"
The five people on the opposite side finally could no longer deceive themselves and continue to doubt that Lu Yuan was far away, and they all felt as if they were in despair. Zhao Zhijing said: "It's over, it's over."
Lu Yuan continued: "Moreover, do you know that after Zhu Shu was called to the capital by Emperor Taizu to reprimand, what happened to those who worked for Zhu Shu at that time?" He no longer called Zhu Shu the King of Qi.
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Several people present looked at each other in confusion. They really didn't know the ending of their ex, but from the meaning of Lu Yuan's words, they could guess that it was not a good ending.
But Chen Lianyu knew what would happen to his predecessor. He turned pale and trembled as he said: "At that time, Emperor Taizu decreed that all the Qi kings, including Changshi, the judge, and others would be executed in late solitude. His family members were guarding the border; the rest were accomplices.
I will kill the man myself, and exile my wife and children. The six of us sitting here are all worthy of Lingchi."
Lu Yuan added: "And this time, the imperial edict of the current emperor specifically stated: 'Anyone who works as an accomplice with Qi King Zhu Su should be investigated by the censor Zeng Xinran and sent to the capital for punishment.' In addition, this time
Your Majesty has punished King Qi so severely, do you still expect a good outcome?"
The remaining four people immediately turned pale with fright. Jia Shiming collapsed on the chair, his eyes were blank, and he kept muttering something in a low voice. Although the other three were not as miserable as him, they were not much stronger.
Zhao Zhijing was the first among the four to react and said: "Then let's run! Before the decree was officially announced, quickly go to the Yamen to find someone to guide the way, let them build the road overnight, and then run away immediately! Lead!
Take your family and run away immediately!"
Lu Yuan said: "Run? Now you go to the government office. People in the county government forged road signs. Do you think the court won't investigate? How can you run away? You probably won't even be able to get out of Qingzhou Mansion before you get caught."
"Besides, what if you are already prepared? The whole world is not the king's land, and the shores of the land are not the king's ministers. Where can you run? Where can you run without being caught by the imperial court?"
A man named Xia Li, who also had the title of a bodyguard of Prince Qi, actually did the dirty work for Prince Qi, said: "Let's also report Prince Qi to the court immediately. Even if we can't completely escape the guilt, as long as we can reduce some of the guilt, it will be fine."
, I don’t want to be executed by Lingchi!”
Lu Yuan added: "Back then, there were people around King Qi who thought like you and reported King Qi's crimes to the court. As a result, Emperor Taizu was angered and his whole family was killed. Because Emperor Taizu thought they were betraying the emperor.
This move was to betray the master before the battle, so the end was even worse."
The words of Zhao Zhijing and Chen Lianyu had already ignited hopes of survival again when they heard Lu Yuan's words and their eyes turned gloomy again. Jia Shiming shouted: "According to you, this won't work and that won't work, can we?
Can we just wait for death?"
Lu Yuan glanced at them again, and then said: "Of course we can't just sit back and die."
"The imperial court wants to kill me, but I will never let him kill me like this. "Historical Records" says that after Chen She missed the deadline and was beheaded according to the law, he said: 'If a man is not dead, then he will be famous.'"
"Let's rebel! Even if we can't overthrow the Ming Dynasty, we won't make it easy for the Ming Dynasty!"