The Prince of Fenyang County was sitting in the Zongren Mansion, and King An entered the Yiqing Hall alone to meet the emperor.
General Yin had led 30,000 reinforcements to Hejing City a few days ago. At the same time, battle reports from Hejing City were sent to the capital one after another.
The Divine Guards suffered a huge defeat and had half of their food and fodder burned. Their morale was low and they suffered two defeats in succession.
To make matters worse, Zhou Yong stayed awake for several days and was so angry that he actually fell ill. When the two armies faced each other, the general of one side fell ill and the soldiers were low in morale due to lack of food and grass. The situation was really not good. It was inevitable to suffer successive defeats.
The memorial to impeach the general Zhou Yong was piled half as high as a person. Some of them spoke fiercely and directly cursed that the defeat was all Zhou Yong's fault. Such people were not worthy of being a general at all. They should have resigned from their official positions and been taken directly to the capital to face charges.
These memorials were all ignored by the emperor.
However, Sheng Hong was obviously not in a good mood these days. He got up early and went to bed late every day, and it was common to be woken up in the middle of the night when there were urgent military intelligence reports. That handsome face also looked haggard and gloomy.
.
"I haven't seen you for a few days. Brother Huang is very thin and haggard." Prince An's tone was full of distress.
Sheng Hong felt warm in his heart and put down the memorial: "The war is urgent, don't talk about me, who among the hundreds of officials in the court can eat well and sleep soundly? Everyone is worried. Aren't you also losing a lot of weight?"
"You came to the palace specifically today. Could it be that someone among the princes is willing to speak?"
King An raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "The vassal princes are all hard to chew. Prince Fenyang and I spend our days in the clan's mansion, fighting with them to see who has more endurance."
"For more than half a month, I have asked famous chefs from Shu to 'serve' all the vassal kings. This trick has indeed been quite effective. Two vassal kings couldn't help it and vomited to me in private. They admitted that
The trouble in the Japanese imperial court was caused by the instigation of the King of Jiangxia."
With that said, King An presented two testimonies.
Sheng Hong took the testimony and browsed it quickly, with a cold look in his eyes: "It is indeed the King of Jiangxia."
After the vassal princes returned to the capital, they seemed to surrender on the surface, but in fact they never really calmed down. Sheng Hong placed spies in each prince's palace. However, there were some confidential and important things that the spies could not detect.
Among the vassal kings, the most suspicious one is the King of Jiangxia.
"The two of them not only recognized King Jiangxia, they were also willing to dedicate their private soldiers to the court." King An said another piece of good news: "I entered the palace today to report this matter to the emperor.
.”
"They don't have many private soldiers. One has about five thousand, and the other has eight thousand private soldiers. They usually rely on private seals to dispatch private soldiers. Now they have revealed the location of the private seals. Brother Emperor
Send someone to verify the authenticity and you will know the authenticity.”
Sheng Hongshu frowned, stood up, walked over, and patted Wang An on the shoulder: "Okay! Well done!"
This is a good start.
Just like digging a wall. No matter how strong the city wall is, as long as there are cracks, it will be a matter of time before it completely collapses.
King An grinned: "It would be nice if I could help the emperor brother and share his worries."
The fair and delicate face has lost its childish and frivolous air, and its eyes are firm and calm.
King An has really grown up and matured, and will soon be able to take charge of his own business.
Sheng Hong felt very happy and slapped Wang An hard again.
King An screamed when he was patted: "Brother Emperor is happy, please don't pat me again! My fragile little shoulders can't withstand Brother Emperor's hard pat! I will go to Jiaofang Hall to find the Emperor."
Sister-in-law, go and file a complaint!"
Sheng Hong laughed loudly, stretched out his foot and kicked the smooth-tongued King An: "Go, go, just file a complaint! Let's see who your wife-in-law is targeting!"
…
After King An left the Yiqing Hall, he went to the Jiaofang Hall again. He rubbed his shoulders and shook his legs in grievance and complained: "...sister-in-law, you see, the emperor will bully me. He even kicked me instead of patting me on the shoulder."
I'll give you a leg."
Xie Mingxi was also amused.
When she and Sheng Hong got married, King An was still a child. Over the years, King An had kept to himself. As a sister-in-law, she could not be hard-hearted towards her coquettish and well-behaved brother-in-law, and she was quite partial to him.
"When your royal brother comes back, I will give him a good scolding to vent your anger." Xie Mingxi coaxed with a smile.
Prince An beamed with joy: "The emperor's sister-in-law still loves me the most."
After joking for a while, King An told Xie Mingxi that the two vassal kings had identified King Jiangxia.
Xie Mingxi's eyes flashed and she twitched her lips: "In that case, you release the two feudal princes from the clan's mansion. I will send the two feudal princes back to the mansion today. There is no need to seal the feudal prince's mansion.
"
It is to let all the feudal kings watch and surrender to the emperor so that you can live a good life.
Otherwise, just live in the prison of Zongren Mansion and eat Shu delicacies every day!
King An suppressed his smile and responded seriously.
…
Xie Mingxi's movements were very nimble. On the same day, he ordered the two princesses to be sent back to the prince's palace, each with a generous reward.
The two feudal princesses were quite frightened by being treated so well. It wasn't until their own prince left the clan's mansion and returned to his home that he felt relieved. The old couple escaped the disaster and met each other and cried each other.
"I can't stay at the Zongren Mansion for another day. I haven't had a decent meal for more than a month. I have unbearable stomachache every day. This Prince An is too cunning and insidious.
"
"I am in fear every day in the palace. I can't eat well and sleep well. It doesn't matter that the prince has hired private soldiers. From now on, I don't have to worry anymore, I can just live my life with peace of mind."
The next day, the two vassal princes went to Chenliu Prince's Mansion again.
King Chenliu, who had been recovering from his illness, met the two vassal princes. What the three said in private was unknown to outsiders. When the two vassal princes left the palace of Chenliu King, they looked particularly calm and relieved.
As Sheng Hong expected, the most difficult step to poach is the first step. After taking the first step, the second and third steps will be much easier.
In the next month, three more vassal kings bowed their heads and confessed, and handed over private soldiers.
Sheng Hong intended to show favor, but did not pursue the matter to the end. He ordered the king of Fenyang County to send the feudal prince back to his mansion. Xie Mingxi also sent the feudal princess back to her mansion as soon as possible. All the treatment was no different from the past.
The feudal princes who refused to bow their heads and confess their crimes continued to suffer in the prison of the clan's mansion. The feudal princes and concubines were also not allowed to be free and continued to "live" in the palace.
Comparing the two, one cannot help but be unconvinced.
King Jiangxia had made up his mind to go all the way, but the other vassal kings still had room to retreat. As time passed, some of the vassal kings who had suffered a lot of hardships testified against King Jiangxia, saying that those 30,000 private soldiers were
It was the King of Jiangxia who secretly instigated this.
The person who confessed and testified was the King of Nan'an who had always been close to the King of Jiangxia.
After reading the testimony, Sheng Hong's face was as dark as water, and he issued an order in a cold voice: "Come, King Xuan Nan'an, King Jiang Xia, will enter the palace immediately."
