"Father, Ruan Jingzhen just returned from the Ming Dynasty and brought back news that the Ming Dynasty refused to allow Chen Tianping to come to Annan to succeed the king now." Hu Huan trotted all the way to Hu Ji Yao's palace, panting and waiting. After all the eunuchs and maids in the palace went out, they said to Hu Jiya.
"Sit down and speak slowly and in detail. Although this matter is very urgent, it is not urgent." Hu Jiya said to him.
After Hu Yan sat down and took a breath and returned to normal, Hu Jishen asked: "Is it because the Ming Dynasty did not allow him to return to the country, or is he unwilling to return to the country?"
"It is forbidden by the Ming Dynasty." Hu Huan said with some confusion: "Father, Ruan Jingzhen arrived in the capital of the Ming Dynasty and handed his father's documents to Chen Di, the Minister of Rites. The next day, Chen Di went to the palace to pay homage to His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and came back. Afterwards, he told Ruan Jingzhen that His Majesty would not allow Chen Tianping to return to China to take the throne now. Ruan Jingzhen wanted to see the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but was rejected. So he rushed back immediately."
After hearing this, Hu Jisao's expression did not change at all. He sat in his seat and pondered for a while and then said: "In this case, this is the only way."
"Hu Huan, please call Li Duan over and use all our people in Guangxi to assassinate Chen Tianping. If that doesn't work, we can only suspend the reform, but don't stop the war against Champa. Drag with Chen Tianping. In the end, it will be Who was brought down."
"Yes, father." After listening to Hu Jishen's words, Hu Yan was no longer at a loss and understood that this was the only way at this time and he could only try it.
But he paused and then asked: "Father, use all the people to assassinate Chen Tianping. If the assassination succeeds, they will be worthy of death; but if the assassination fails, we will not be able to investigate what he did in Guangxi in the future. This is It’s not too expensive.”
"If it fails this time, it will be impossible for future assassinations to succeed. In that case, what are we still doing with them? It is useless to find out what Chen Tianping did all day long."
"Besides, a lion needs all his strength to fight a rabbit. What's more, our assassination has little chance of success. If we keep our efforts, it may be even less likely to succeed." Hu Jisao said.
Hu Yan nodded, did not ask any more questions, and stood up to call Li Sun over. But at this moment, Hu Ji Yao's trusted eunuch came in and said: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Lord Li Sun requests an audience."
"It's really about Cao Cao. Cao Cao is here." Hu Jisao joked and said loudly: "Let him come in."
Li Duan walked in immediately, just bowed slightly to the two of them and said excitedly: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I just found out that Chen Tianping left Nanning Fucheng yesterday and is heading to Jiangsu Province. After that, we may even go to Longzhou or even Pingxiangzhou. It is said that because these places are closer to the border, we can see people who pass by us earlier."
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, walking on the road is different from that in Nanning. No matter how tight the defense is, there is always an opportunity. Even if it is too late to arrange an assassination in Jiangzhou, you can still assassinate him in Jiangzhou. .After all, Jiangzhou is not as good as Nanning Prefecture."
"According to what I see, it is extremely unlikely that the Ming Dynasty would agree to let Chen Tianping come to Annan at this time. As a plan of great danger, we should not wait for the news from the capital of the Ming Dynasty any longer and immediately order people to assassinate Chen Tianping. I have some people under my command. A few dead soldiers, no matter whether the assassination can be successful or not, will not reveal any secrets, and we will ensure that the people of the Ming Dynasty will not know that we sent people to assassinate."
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, don't hesitate any longer." Li Duan finally knelt down and said.
"You don't have to do this when you get up." Hu Jisao said and motioned to Hu Huan to help him up. Seeing that it was Hu Huan who wanted to help him, Li Sun didn't dare to get up, so he could only stand up again.
After standing up, Li Duan was just about to continue asking Hu Ji Yao to make a decisive decision when he heard him say: "You don't have to ask me. I have already decided to assassinate Chen Tianping."
"Ruan Jingzhen has just returned to Xijing, and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty does not allow Chen Tianping to return to the throne of the country now. We have no other way but to try to assassinate Chen Tianping."
"Your Majesty Wang Yingming." Li Duan said immediately.
Li Duan immediately withdrew and arranged for the assassination. Hu Jishen said to Hu Huan again: "The assassination may not be successful. If it is not possible, we can only win over the nobles to delay the change. You should prepare first and wait for the news that the assassination cannot be successful." Come, summon the heads of the various clans in the country to Xijing, I want to talk to them personally."
"Yes, father." Hu Yan agreed. But in his heart he prayed: 'In order to prevent father's hard work from being in vain, the assassination must be successful.'
…
…
Jiangzhou is located in the southeast of Guangxi Province, 2,110 miles away from Guilin. Although it is directly under the jurisdiction of the Chief Envoy, it is only an ordinary one among the 48 states in Guangxi Province. The total population of the state is only Tens of thousands of people, the population of any county in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is much larger than here. On normal days, even traders would rarely come to such a place; but recently, because the only surviving member of the Chen Dynasty clan in Annan is about to arrive, Xiao The small city is no longer peaceful either on the surface or secretly.
"Nie Yi, the Minister of Chongshan and the Thousand Households of Thousand Households, has seen Li Dudu Qian's affairs." A middle-aged man knelt down respectfully and said to the man in armor in front of him.
"Get up." The Guangxi Dusi commander waved his hand nonchalantly, asking him to get up.
Nie Yi was a little dissatisfied: Although he was a native of Guangxi, he had met Fu Youde and other generals back then. At that time, even Fu Youde, Lan Yu and others treated ordinary Qianhu with courtesy, but now he is from Guangxi The commander-in-chief of the third grade of Dusi Zheng is so arrogant.
But now is no longer the time of the founding of the country. Although there are still occasional rebellions and rebellions everywhere, most of them have risen and fallen, and a very few have fled into the deep mountains and old forests to survive, which does not have much impact. Even the military is no longer what it was when the country was founded. The robes and rituals were strict and the hierarchy was strict. Nie Yi did not dare to say anything and stood up respectfully.
"The king of Annan will come to Jiangzhou soon. Although there will probably be no danger, you still have to arrange for people to greet Prince Yitong, the king of Annan, and send people to guard outside his stay day and night. "
"Also, when Prince Chen enters the city, you must organize the people to greet him. Although the reception is left to the governor of Jiangzhou, you must also maintain order and not let them collide with Prince Chen."
"Besides,..." Li Qianshi talked a lot.
Nie Yi was listening attentively at first, but the more he listened, the more wrong he became: Li Qianshi's actions almost completely did not consider the safety of Prince Chen, and all focused on the scene of welcoming and entertaining.
It would be fine if Jiangzhou was still calm, but as far as he knew, many outsiders had come to Jiangzhou City recently. Although these people seemed to be barbarians from the nearby chieftains, Nie Yi could still feel the undercurrent. .
After finally waiting for Li Qianshi to finish speaking, Nie Yi bowed and said to him cautiously: "Li Qianshi, what you said just now are all about arranging etiquette. How can we ensure the safety of Prince Chen?"
"What? Will someone come to harm Prince Chen?" Li Qianshi said: "Who will be harmed to Prince Chen? Who will benefit from being harmed to Prince Chen?"
"Li Qianshi, the Li family of Annan and his son will definitely not want Prince Chen to recruit people who oppose him in Annan in Guangxi, and may send people to harm Prince Chen." Nie Yi said his guess.
"Of course Li and his son don't want Prince Chen to be in Guangxi like this, but this is Guangxi and not Annan. How can he be unfavorable to Prince Chen!"
"It's fine if we're on the way. The barren mountains and ridges can be ambushed everywhere. Jiangzhou is a city after all, and a small one at that. If a stranger comes in, he will be discovered immediately. How can he be disadvantageous to Prince Chen?" Li Qianshi said.
Nie Yi wanted to say more, but at this moment Li Qianshi said to himself: "But that's right. Protecting Prince Chen closely can let the people above see how much I take this matter seriously, which will save me a lot of hard work."
He then lowered his head and said to Nie Yi: "Then, as you said, we will strictly ensure the safety of Prince Chen. This matter will be left to you two after the guards escorting Prince Chen arrive."
"Yes, Li Qianshi." Nie Yi heard that he meant to shirk responsibility: Although Li Qianshi, as the responsible person, cannot shirk all the responsibilities, every point he can shirk is worth it. But Nie Yi Yi still had to agree. As the local military commander, this was his responsibility and he couldn't shirk it.
Li Qianshi said a few more words to him and asked Nie Yi to step aside and make arrangements.
In the next few days, Nie Yi launched a vigorous campaign to search for "people with evil intentions" in the city. He searched the unfamiliar faces of the Han people in the city. Everyone had to have someone vouch for them to ensure that there was no problem. It was difficult for the barbarians to identify themselves, so Nie Yi took them They all rushed to a corner of the city and were not allowed to go anywhere else in the city; because his move was for the sake of Chen Tianping's safety, Zhizhou did not dare to say anything.
Nie Yi also asked the gangsters and bullies in the city to help with the investigation. Because Nie Yi was a Qianhu in the nearby Qianhu Office, it was easy to punish them, so these people did not dare to go against his words, and they did not engage in the underworld. Now that I'm at my job, I'm doing the work of the National Security Bureau like the few Jin Yiwei sent over, trying my best to help identify suspicious people.
For a time, the city of Jiangzhou was in chaos, but Nie Yi's actions did cause a lot of trouble for the assassins sent by Li Duan.
…
…
"Wang Cheng, Wang Gong, you guys don't go out these days. Nie Yi and his soldiers have been carefully exploring the city recently. Anyone with a new face must be vouched for. I only came here three years ago. "Jiangzhou, there are so many of you. If I give you a few guarantees, you will be suspected, so you stay in the yard. If someone comes to investigate, you will hide in the second cellar." One of them looked two-faced. The fifteen or sixteen-year-old man said to the eight men and women in front of him, old and young.
This man's name is Han Cang, which is, of course, a pseudonym. His real surname is Ruan. Because there are very few Han people with the surname Ruan, he changed his name to Han Cang. He lurked into the Ming Dynasty in the name of a businessman three years ago and came to Jiangzhou.
"Han Cang, it is indeed safe for us to hide in the yard and not go out, but how can we check the situation in the city and how can we assassinate Chen Tianping?" said the man named Wang Cheng.
"We can only let Wang Ma and Han Wei go out. Han Wei's alias has the same surname as mine, so she can pretend to be my cousin, and Wang Ma can pretend to be my cousin-in-law. They can take Daming's
Lu Yin walked around the city to explore the situation," Han Cang said.
"Can't we disguise ourselves as a caravan? Isn't it unusual for a caravan to have eight people?" Wang Gong asked.
"Of course it's not unusual for a caravan to have eight people. But your guides are from different places. How can an ordinary caravan have eight people and six guides? Unless it's a big businessman from the capital. But such a businessman
How could you come to a remote place like Jiangzhou?"
"Although Han Wei and Wang Ma's Lu Yin are not from the same county as me, they are also from the same mansion. It is not unusual for a woman from a merchant family to marry into a merchant family from other places, so we can still hide the past." Han Cang said.
Wang Gong was speechless. He had not thought about the road leading, and it was too late to change the road leading in other places now.
At this time, the oldest person present coughed and said: "Han Cang's arrangements are very appropriate, just follow what he said. Wang Ma, if you have learned how to draw a map, you will remember everything you see.
Draw it when you come back. Han Wei, take a careful look at what's in the city. When Wang Ma comes back to draw, remind him to prevent Wang Ma from forgetting anything."
Wang Ma and Han Wei agreed. Han Cang said with some guilt: "It would be better if I had drawn a map of Jiangzhou before."
"You don't have to blame yourself. It's not easy to draw a map. People who haven't learned can't draw it well. And who knew before that there would be an assassination in Jiangzhou? I sent you here just thinking that if there was a war, you could draw it in
We can detect how many troops are passing by here to let the country know how many Ming troops need to be dealt with." This man whose pseudonym is Cao Anmin and who looks to be in his late fifties said.
After that, they discussed some things. Han Wei and Wang Ma went out to investigate, and Han Cang covered them. The other people also arranged tasks in the yard. It was not until dark that they finished discussing the matter.
Han Cang touched his belly and said, "It's already this time. I'll cook for you. Fortunately, I have been secretly hoarding some food. Otherwise, buying a lot of food suddenly will arouse suspicion."
Soon, Han Cang steamed the rice, took out the vegetables and meat he bought in the past two days, prepared a few dishes, and served them. He said apologetically: "Although I have stocked up a lot of food on weekdays, I haven't saved any vegetables or meat."
How much, everyone can only make do with it."
"As long as you can eat enough." Wang Gong said while eating: "It doesn't matter if there is no vegetables or meat, as long as you can eat enough. I don't know how many days will pass before Chen Tianping arrives in Jiangzhou City, so he will be hungry all the time.
If you don’t hide much food, we can eat six to seven cents full every day.”