Chapter 1111: Combining Vertical and Horizontal (Part 1)
"How do you say this?" Liu Feng frowned and asked.
"Prime Minister, the Tiger Guards are the emperor's imperial guard, and the inner treasury is the emperor's private treasury. The emperor has handed over military and financial power that are related to his own vital interests to the Xiao family. It feels like an inferior position. I'm afraid... he wants to pass on the throne to the Xiao family.
Son!"
Liu Feng was stunned. He remembered what his sister said in the letter. There were rumors in the palace that the emperor wanted to make Concubine Xiao Shu the queen.
After a long while, he hesitated and said: "The noble concubine just sent me a letter, saying that there are rumors in the palace that the emperor wants to make Xiao Shufei the queen. Are the rumors true?"
Yang Mi nodded, "It seems true. In order to establish King Zhao as the crown prince, the first step is to canonize Concubine Xiao Shu as the queen. This is one, two, two and three things. One of them is indispensable."
"But... Concubine Xiao Shu is the queen, what will happen to my sister? What will happen to our Liu family?"
Yang Mi secretly sighed in his heart, Liu Feng's structure was still too low. If he had a little structure, what should he do with the current prince? And he only cared about his own interests and lacked the overall situation.
"Prime Minister, the power struggle between relatives has always been very cruel, especially when it comes to the heirs to the imperial power. However, judging from the current situation, the emperor may gradually lose favor and trust in the Liu family, but it is far from being kicked away.
The point.”
Liu Feng became extremely irritable and paced back and forth in the inner hall with his hands behind his hands. He knew that his sister could not give birth to a son, which was the biggest problem. As his sister grew older, looked less attractive, and eventually fell out of favor, the Liu family was really doomed.
,Now how to do?
Yang Mi continued to comfort Liu Feng and said: "The emperor's intention is actually very obvious. The Xiao family is in charge and the Liu family is outside. This shows that he has not given up on the Liu family's ideas for the time being, and the Prime Minister does not need to be too nervous."
Liu Feng sighed, "The main reason is that the emperor has been dissatisfied with me recently. He hasn't summoned me for a long time. Hey! I really shouldn't have asked Zhang Wu Tao to guard Wei Han."
Yang Mi laughed and said, "The Prime Minister is overly worried. No one can defend Weihan. No one can imagine that the Jin army will attack Weihan. The Emperor will not blame the Prime Minister for this matter. The Emperor has not summoned him recently.
It’s probably because his thoughts are all on his son! He doesn’t care about government affairs at all.”
Liu Feng was stunned for a moment. It does make sense! After the emperor gave birth to a son, of course he would no longer be in government affairs. Naturally, he would not summon him. He summoned Liu Sigu, probably because of the Chang'an negotiations. That matter had nothing to do with him.
Nothing to do.
After figuring this out, Liu Feng breathed a sigh of relief, and he quickly asked: "Then what should I do now?"
Yang Mi smiled lightly and said: "I guess the emperor will not touch the prime minister for the time being. As long as the imperial concubine does not cause trouble, he will feel ashamed of the imperial concubine and it will be beneficial to the prime minister. However, if the prime minister wants to plan for the long term, he must have allies in the court. I
It is recommended that the Prime Minister form an alliance with the Crown Prince."
Liu Feng's eyes suddenly widened. He suddenly jumped up and shouted: "Yes! The emperor wants to make King Zhao the crown prince. What should the current crown prince do?"
Yang Mi smiled slightly and said: "Xiangguo understands it! The person whose interests are most harmed now is not the Liu family. The imperial concubine has no son. There is no conflict of interest between the Xiao family and the Liu family for the time being. They will not consider how to deal with the Liu family now, but
The prince is different, the Xiao family must be thinking about how to deal with the current prince? The prince is their biggest opponent at the moment."
"Sir, what you want is for me to help the prince?"
Yang Mi shook his head, "Xiangguo, if you help the prince, you are helping yourself. If the prince is overthrown, the Xiao family's next target will definitely be the Liu family. Sooner or later, the Xiao family and the Liu family will have serious conflicts of interest. As the saying goes, one mountain cannot tolerate two tigers.
This is the truth.”
Liu Feng sighed, "Sir, you are right. Helping the prince means helping myself."
At this moment, a steward in the hall reported, "Master, the prince wants to see you!"
...........
Zhu Si's crown prince was Zhu Sui, the second son of his brother Zhu Tao. Since Zhu Si had no children, Zhu Sui became the crown prince of the Zhu Si dynasty. In fact, this was the basis for the cooperation between the Zhu brothers.
The prince Zhu Sui is very different. Unlike other dynasties that attach great importance to the cultivation of heirs, Zhu Si simply ignores heirs. He doesn't care what will happen to the dynasty he established in the end, so he just agreed.
He said, 'After I die, there will be floods.'
Therefore, Zhu Si has always been indifferent to the prince Zhu Sui. Zhu Sui has always kept a low profile in Luoyang and basically does not care about military and political affairs. His role is to patrol various places on behalf of Zhu Si. Secondly, when Zhu Si goes on an expedition, he is responsible for
Located in Luoyang.
Zhu Sui had not had the opportunity to display his talents for so many years, but in the crisis caused by the fall of Weihan, Zhu Sui showed mediocre abilities. He neither sent troops in time to stop the Jin army from advancing eastward nor appeased Luoyang.
city, causing chaos in Luoyang City. Many wealthy families who fled Luoyang have not returned yet.
If the Jin army captured Weihan and advanced to Luoyang too suddenly, Zhu Sui could not be blamed for this, then Zhu Sui could not escape the blame for the delay in stabilizing Luoyang.
However, Zhu Si did not blame him too much, especially when Zhu Si had a son in his later years. During this time, he was so happy that he completely forgot about Zhu Sui, but Zhu Sui felt a huge crisis.
The housekeeper led Zhu Sui to Liu Feng's outer study. Zhu Sui sat for a while, and Liu Feng slowly walked into the study.
Zhu Sui inherited the characteristics of the Zhu family's fat body, but he was still relatively young. Although he was fat, he did not look bloated, but looked tall and majestic. He was sitting in the study drinking tea, looking uneasy.
Liu Feng coughed heavily and walked into the study. Zhu Sui quickly put down the tea cup and stood up to salute.
"I'm disturbing the Prime Minister!"
Liu Feng smiled slightly and said, "It's rare to see His Highness the Crown Prince, so why bother with the word 'disturbing'? Please sit down!"
Although Zhu Sui is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he does not have the posture of a superior prince at all. He should be sitting in the East Palace, receiving ministers, instead of looking like a job seeker like he does now.
Liu Feng also despised Zhu Sui from the bottom of his heart, so he did not have the etiquette that a minister should have in front of Zhu Sui, and his demeanor seemed a bit condescending.
"Your Highness must be having a hard time these days!"
Liu Feng did not pretend to be pretentious and said straight to the point: "I have received news that the emperor has the idea of re-establishing a crown prince. What do you think about it?"
Zhu Sui didn't expect Liu Feng to be so straightforward. He was speechless for a while. After a while, he whispered in a low voice: "Is this news true?"
Liu Feng nodded, "Although it has not been officially announced, the news I got from the palace is that the Holy Emperor does have this plan. In fact, it is understandable. Even ordinary people, who doesn't want his biological son to inherit the family property?"
Zhu Sui's fat face twitched violently twice. He lowered his head and whispered: "If it doesn't work, I will go to Liaodong. At least where is my biological father?"
Liu Feng sneered, "Can your brother tolerate you going back?"
Zhu Sui lowered his head in frustration. His brother Zhu Fan was ruthless and had a great desire for power. Even their father was ignored. How could he tolerate his return?
Liu Feng saw that Zhu Sui had been suppressed by him, so he said calmly: "Your Highness came to me, shouldn't it just be to share a few words about his troubles?"
Zhu Sui raised his head and summoned up the courage to say: "Then what should I do? Please teach me!"
"Actually, we have a common enemy, don't we? Otherwise, why would you come to me?"
Zhu Sui said slowly: "Xiao family!"
"You are absolutely right. Your fate is related to the Xiao family, and the status of my Liu family is also related to the Xiao family. If we want to avoid being suppressed by the Xiao family, we must join forces to deal with the Xiao family."
Zhu Sui suddenly became excited and swore: "If I win the throne in the future, I will share the world with the Prime Minister!"
"Thank you for your generosity, your highness, but we can't think too far ahead now. I want to know how many supporters your highness has?"
This is what Liu Feng is most concerned about. If Zhu Sui is just a bare-bones person with no resources, there is no use cooperating with him.
Of course, Zhu Sui also has his own power, which he has always hidden deeply, but now it has reached a critical moment. If he does not show his sincerity, I am afraid Liu Feng will also give up on him.
Zhu Sui hesitated for a moment and finally revealed the hidden secret, "Flying Bear General Qiu Jingzhong is one of my men, and Luo Shengwang, the governor of Songzhou, Zhou Jian, the governor of Xuzhou, and Wang Qilian, the governor of Bozhou, all firmly support me."
Liu Feng was immediately shocked. The governors of Song, Xu, and Bozhou supported Zhu Sui. This was an open secret. Everyone knew it, including Liu Feng.
But the Flying Bear General Qiu Jingzhong turned out to be Zhu Sui's man. This really made Liu Feng not expect that Qiu Jingzhong was the only remaining veteran around Zhu Si. He controlled the Fei Xiong Guards among Zhu Si's mountain guards and was currently stationed in the west of Luoyang.
There are 100,000 troops in Feng'an County.
Zhu Si's current army is mainly composed of the Four Guards and the First Army. The Huben Guards are the most elite Yulin Army, with an army of 100,000, and are currently controlled by his relative Xiao Wanding, followed by the Feixiong Guards, also with an army of 100,000, and then the Hulao Pass Guards.
The Leopard Tao Guard was led by General Wang Zhongmou and had an army of 80,000 people.
Finally, there is the Qianniu Guard, which is responsible for the city defense and public security of Luoyang. There are 50,000 troops. The Qianniu Guard is composed of two parts. One is the Jinwu Army, which is responsible for the security of Luoyang and surrounding areas, with 20,000 troops, and the other is the Nine Guards, which is responsible for the city defense of Luoyang.
Xiang Fei, the current commander-in-chief of the nine sects, is Liu Feng's brother-in-law and has an army of 30,000 men.
These are the four Davids, and then there is an army called the scattered army, which is stationed in various places, totaling more than 100,000 people.
Qiu Jingzhong, the commander of the Flying Bear Guards among the Four Davids, has always been regarded as Zhu Si's confidant, but he turned out to be the prince Zhu Sui's man, so how could Liu Feng not be surprised.
.........
After initially reaching an intention to form an alliance, Zhu Sui said goodbye and left. Liu Feng could not calm down and was still pacing back and forth in the room. He was too confused and needed to organize his thoughts.
At this time, Yang Mi walked into the study, bowed and said: "The Prime Minister is looking for me?"
Liu Feng nodded, "I need you to go through the details for me. Where should we start now?"