Yunxi didn't know that after more than a year passed, his actions in the year before reached Timur's ears, causing great changes in Timur's behavior in Anatolia, and Timur's Eastern Expedition would also be advanced. occur.
But even if he knew it now, he just sighed: "Sure enough, a change in one person's behavior will definitely cause a chain effect. It seems that a war against Timur's empire is inevitable."
He was not interested in paying attention to things in the northwest for the time being, because the news of Chen Tianping's assassination spread back to the capital.
On June 24, Chen Tianping was assassinated, and even after rescuing, Jiangzhou City fell into panic. Li Fuyuan committed suicide that night, leaving a suicide note to apologize to Yunxi and Zhu Zanyi; Luo Shenzhen because He lost too much blood and was too tired, so he passed out.
Nie Yi, the magistrate of Jiangzhou and the head of Qianhu who was stationed at Qianhu, were also very frightened. Although their crimes would not lead to death, they would probably be dismissed from their posts. Fortunately, Fei Bin, the head of the Jinyi Guard who was sent to the local area, showed up in time and He took out the captured assassins and their confessions to let them know that the mastermind behind the assassination was Li Jiya of Annan State, so that the memorial sent to the capital would not be just an empty apology.
The three of them discussed until midnight, drafted the memorial, and sent it six hundred miles to the capital and Guilin. On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, Yunxi met with two Mongolian envoys and delivered it to him when he returned to Qianqing Palace.
Yunxi looked at the memorial in front of him, his expression did not change, he just sighed secretly and said: "Sure enough, it happened, what I have been looking forward to for a long time."
Yes, Chen Tianping's assassination was what Yunxi expected. He would definitely kill Chen Tianping.
The location of Annan is too important. The western regions of Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong Province have always had rugged terrain and inconvenient access, which seriously hindered Yunnan's ability to connect with the outside world and weakened the imperial court's control over Yunnan.
But it is different from Yunnan to Annan. Annan is a plain. Although the southeastern part of Yunnan Province is not that flat, it is much closer than the passage through the three provinces of Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong. It controlled Annan and followed the example of France in history. People built the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway to connect Yunnan and Vietnam and generally established official roads. The imperial court would greatly strengthen its control over Yunnan.
In addition, Annan itself is rich in resources and the people are hardworking and hardworking. It not only has strategic significance but also economic significance, so Yunxi is bound to win it.
However, as a country with Confucianism as its main ideology, the Ming Dynasty could not care about foreign public opinion, but it must take into account domestic public opinion and handle foreign affairs in accordance with etiquette.
The Chen Dynasty of Annan was a kingdom recognized by the Ming Dynasty during the Hongwu period. Zhu Yuanzhang cut off the tribute from Annan because the Li family had usurped the power of the monarch of the Chen Dynasty and despised the king. This did not mean that he did not recognize the Chen family's right to rule Annan, so as long as There was another man in the Chen Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty had to hand over Annan to him after taking it back from the Li family.
How could Yunxi accept such a situation? So after thinking about it, he sent Chen Tianping to Yunnan for very fair and aboveboard reasons, and asked the Jin Yiwei to cooperate with the assassins sent by Annan to assassinate him.
Yunxi also asked the Jin Yiwei to make preparations secretly. If the Jin Yiwei in Yunnan failed to capture Annan's assassin alive or failed to obtain a confession from Annan's assassin, they would produce forged evidence. Anyway, they must make the ministers in the court think that it was Li. Ji Yao and his son sent people to assassinate Chen Tianping, so that no one dared to oppose sending troops to Annan.
So at this time, Yunxi said to Wang Xi in an orderly manner: "Go and call in the six ministers of the imperial court, all the governors of the five army governors' offices, the left governor of the Metropolitan Inspectorate, Shi Jianyi, the left minister of the Ministry of War, Chen Xingshan, the right minister Jin Chun and others. Qianqing Palace, go to my big study room."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Wang Xi bowed and agreed, and immediately stepped down to deliver the order.
"Brother, what is going on? Are all the important officials of the imperial court invited into the palace now?" asked Shang Bing, who had just received the envoy of Yili Baali together with Yunxi.
Yunxi handed him the memorial and said: "Li Jiyou of Annan sent people to assassinate Chen Tianping in Yunnan."
"This..." Shang Bing took the memorial and looked at it carefully. He was very surprised. He was not surprised that Li Jiya of Annan sent people to assassinate Chen Tianping, but that the local government and Jin Yiwei in Jiangzhou were able to do so in a short time. I was surprised to find out the truth within the time required. Even if I caught Annan's assassin right away, I shouldn't have been able to ask for a confession so quickly.
However, he did not express his doubts. Instead, he thought of another thing and said to Yunxi: "Brother, do you want to tell Zan Yi and the princess Chen who has been promised to him about this immediately? Also, do you want to Don’t you want to continue the engagement between Zan Yi and Chen?”
"Of course the engagement between Zan Yi and Mrs. Chen must be maintained. Since they have already married and exchanged marriage certificates, Mrs. Chen is a member of our Zhu family and cannot be terminated. But should we tell Zan Yi and Mrs. Chen immediately?" Yunxi After thinking about it, he said: "I will tell Zan Yi later and let Zan Yi decide whether to tell Mrs. Chen."
"That's fine." Shang Bing said.
Then Shang Bing resigned and left the palace, and Yunxi asked Huang Fu to send him to Chang'an Gate.
He immediately went to the large study room of the Qianqing Palace, took out all the reports about Annan from the cabinet, and read the records about Annan's later generations that he had written a few years ago.
A quarter of an hour later, Li Jian, the former governor of the Military Governor's Mansion, walked in, bowed to him and asked, "Your Majesty, why do you want me to enter the palace?"
"I didn't just call you into the palace. I called many people into the palace. I have something important to tell you. Seventh uncle, please be patient. I won't talk about it until everyone is here." Yun He said.
When Li Jian heard this, he knew it must be a very important matter, so he stopped asking and sat down to wait.
After that, other officials arrived one after another, and some asked the same questions as Li Jian, and Yunxi always answered them with the same words.
It wasn't until the Yamen, the farthest away from the palace, that the Minister of Punishment Rupun walked into the Qianqing Palace, did Yunxi put down the book in his hand, exchanged a few words with them, and said: "My dear friends, the news just came from Yunnan that Chen Tianping was The assassination, and the local government and Jin Yiwei have found out that it was Li Jiyou and his son."
"What?" In an instant, countless such voices sounded.
Everyone was so surprised. In April, Chen Tianping was still chatting with them in the capital, but now he suddenly told them that this young man was dead.
"Why didn't the guards protect Lord Chen?" Chen Di, the Minister of Rites, then said.
"Yes, Li Fuyuan and others who were responsible for protecting Lord Chen failed to fulfill their responsibilities and allowed Lord Chen to be killed. They should be punished." Yin Qing, the left governor of the Rear Army Governor's Mansion, said loudly.
"Li Fuyuan has committed suicide; Luo Shenzhen was seriously injured and fell into coma that night; this memorial was jointly signed by the local magistrate and Suo Qianhu, as well as the person in charge of the Jinyiwei who was sent there." Yunxi handed the memorial to him. They took turns watching and talking.
"Luo Shenzhen and others will naturally be punished for failing to protect themselves, but since Li Fuyuan has committed suicide, it is still unclear what happened on the day Chen Tianping was killed, so we will not punish the others for the time being, and we will make a decision after a detailed report is available. .”
"I called you here today to discuss how to deal with this matter."
"Your Majesty, are you sure that it was Annan Li Jisou who did this? According to common sense, even if Annan's assassin is caught immediately, he cannot ask for a confession so quickly." Chen Xingshan asked and Shang Bing had no confession. doubts.
"I am also confused about this matter. The memorial said that a detailed report will be issued in two days. I dare not be completely sure now. But I think that these officials should not dare to make up nonsense and slander Li. Ji You." Yunxi said.
Everyone nodded. Although it was puzzling that the Jin Yiwei could find out the truth of the matter so quickly, it was even more unreasonable for them to fabricate and slander Li Jiya. They were not the ones in charge of protecting Chen Tianping, and Chen Tianping was the king of Fan State, not the Ming Dynasty. The crime of being a prince is not punishable by death; but if one is found making random fabrications, he will be punished by being executed.
"Then if this matter is true, Annan Kingdom must be punished." Xue Ning, the governor of the Zuo Army Governor's Mansion, said.
"Your Majesty, if Guangxi's report is correct, troops must be sent to punish Annan!" Guo Zhen also said immediately.
Yunxi glanced at the officials present. Anyone whose breasts were made of animals were happy and spoke out in support of Xue Ning's words. However, those whose chests were made of birds had different expressions, but no one dared to do so. refute.
Over the years, Yunxi worked hard to promote Zhouli to counter the more decadent Confucianism such as Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism. The standard answer for the imperial examination is no longer Zhu Xi's annotation. Therefore, although there are still many people who believe in Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, they are decreasing year by year, and official positions are None of the top few believed it, whether it was true or false, they all believed in Zhou Li. Therefore, they now dare not refute what Xue Ning and others said, because to refute his words would be tantamount to violating Zhou Li.
However, not daring to refute directly does not mean that he accepts it. Chen Xingshan said: "Your Majesty, it has not yet been decided whether Li Jiyou and his son ordered his men to assassinate Chen Tianping, so I think it is better to wait until a conclusion is reached before making a decision. "
Guo Zhen was about to speak, but was stopped by Yunxi. He looked at Yunxi in confusion, but Yunxi did not look at him, but said to Chen Xingshan: "It is best to wait until there is a conclusion before making a decision. However, I have summoned you today to discuss and prepare methods for several possible situations, and then make a decision as soon as the truth of the matter becomes clear."
"So, if the assassination of Chen Tianping was really done by Li Jisou, should we send troops to punish Annan?"
Chen Xingshan was silent for a moment and then said: "If this matter was really done by Li Jisou, he should be punished. He must not be willing to go to Beijing to stand trial, so he can only send troops to attack Annan."
"However, this matter has nothing to do with the ordinary people of Annan. We should avoid implicating the people of Annan too much and explain to the gentry of Annan why I am here, so that Li Jiya and his son can be captured in the capital as quickly as possible and punished."
"Besides, there is also the matter of who will rule Annan after Li Jiyao and his son are captured in Beijing. Since Li Jiyao and his son are still so rebellious even when the Ming Dynasty has repeatedly tolerated them, they cannot be the kings of Annan. And the Chen family is probably already "Quiet, who will be the king of Annan?"
"We are not busy with the matter of who will be the king of Annan in the end." Yunxi said: "What needs to be determined now is how to treat Annan. It seems that the result of everyone's discussion is that we can only send troops?"
Chen Xingshan had to nod.
Yunxi glanced at everyone present again. Everyone had no objection to Chen Xingshan's opinion, and the matter was settled.12989