SFS Chapter 189 The surname is lively, and the court is even more lively
Chapter 189 The surname is lively, and the court is even more lively
The chief eunuch did not dare to talk about this matter lightly. Apparently, there was only one reason that could make His Majesty so angry - some of those princes had touched His Majesty's bottom line and were secretly cultivating their own power.
Of course, this kind of force is not an ordinary court force, it is not as simple as who supports whom!
Instead, he recruited soldiers and stored weapons, waiting for the day when His Majesty really did not choose that person, so that he could catch His Majesty off guard...
Huzhou is neither close nor far from the capital. It can be reached in a day by fast horse. In addition, it is close to the capital, and the defenders of the previous cities are all ordinary generals with mediocre military records.
I'm afraid they have barely even been on the battlefield a few times, let alone expect them to be able to stop those sudden "rebels" once any unexpected events occur.
No matter which prince did this, it is truly like... pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth. If His Majesty knew about this, how could he not be angry?
It is so close to the important area of the capital. If someone in the several defended cities surrenders to His Highness, then Your Majesty, who is in the capital, will be trapped in a jar with nowhere to escape.
"My sons have grown up and have become independent." A sneer broke out from the corner of Emperor Tianwu's lips. He looked at the personal eunuch who had been with him for more than 30 years as if he were a dead person. The eunuch was so scared that he prostrated on the ground, not daring to raise his head.
The hostility and murderous intent in his eyes were so evident that even the eunuch who was lying on the ground and dared not raise his head seemed to feel it vaguely... His Majesty's strong murderous intent, his heart tightened, but he did not dare to plead for himself.
Your Majesty is suspicious by nature, and I am afraid that the more I plead, the faster I will be punished.
"Tell me, among all my sons, how many of them are so hypocritical towards me?"
While asking coldly, His Majesty picked up the memorial placed in the most conspicuous position.
The above is about two deputy generals of the Xi'an city garrison being found to have collaborated with the enemy and committed treason, and the river dam will burst in two days at the latest, flooding the streets and alleys of the city.
This memorial was naturally written by Han Yaojun. It had arrived on his desk yesterday, but he had been keeping it and had not dealt with it.
His Majesty lowered his eyes, and it was unclear whether he had restrained his murderous intent or felt that he could be trusted.
When he spoke again, all of his words were top secret. "Recruiting soldiers and forging weapons, what a big deal! Even if you're a prince, you can't have so much money to support tens of thousands of private soldiers, right?"
If there is no trick involved, he would never believe it!
"Xi'an is about to be hit by a flood, and they are still making small moves behind the scenes to create problems for me. The selection of people to provide disaster relief has become a big problem."
His Majesty's eyes were deep and gloomy. Among the memorials handed over, the most difficult ones were the content secretly reported by Tang Yuhuai and the two matters that Xi'an City might be flooded at any time and needed disaster relief.
As for the former, he could let Tang Yuhuai conduct an in-depth investigation and solve it in one fell swoop. As for the latter, it was different. Even though he had not taken state affairs seriously for a long time, he knew that this job was a lucrative one for most court officials.
Besides, the fact that the Eighth Prince... secretly raised a private army was the biggest hidden danger and lesson. I think he embezzled a lot of the disaster relief money in previous years, and used it all for this kind of thing!
Your Majesty may not care about the corruption, but you must care about the fact that all the money embezzled was used to support private armies!
Raising a tiger is a disaster, and the tiger may bite his neck at any time...
"Eighth Brother, you look like me when I was young, but not completely." His Majesty's words were complex and ambiguous, with murderous intent and coldness in his eyes.
The eunuch, who was forced to listen to His Majesty's mumbling, trembled even more violently, "..."
Alas, he really didn't want to know so much. In the palace, the more he knew, the faster he would die.
Emperor Tianwu was furious, but he was also confused. He asked the eunuchs to grind ink and secretly found a minister to write a secret decree for him.
As for this decree, it was naturally to be secretly passed to Tang Yuhuai. Perhaps he was not as good at figuring out other people's thoughts as he was when he was young, but... everyone had come from a prince...
He didn't need to think about what his sons were thinking. Compared with his biological sons who were of the same bloodline as him, he obviously trusted Tang Yuhuai, who did not easily take sides, "temporarily".
An inconspicuous figure outside the Qianqing Palace quickly took the opportunity to fish in troubled waters and ran away. No one knew where he went.
The other party slipped away skillfully without being noticed, and when he met the patrolling guards inside the palace wall, he kept his head down, with such a low sense of presence that no one would pay special attention to him.
Not to mention remembering his face...
In short, the news that Emperor Tianwu received a secret memorial in the Qianqing Palace and then became furious soon became a transparent and tacitly understood thing in the eyes of certain people who had been keeping an eye on the imperial city.
The Eighth Prince... is no exception. He has been paying special attention to his father's every move in the palace these days. With Huzhou in front of him, his hidden secrets may be discovered by Tang Yuhuai at any time...
Later, Chu Xi, Han Yaojun and others submitted a memorial stating that someone in the army had collaborated with the enemy and committed treason, had been arrested, and might be sent to the capital for trial at any time.
To him, these were like two huge knives hanging around his neck, which could fall down at any time and place, making him unable to sleep or eat.
He had planted many spies in the palace. Some of them were placed by his mother early on, some of which were given to him later, and some were secretly placed by him himself.
These people usually delivered some messages from the palace for him. As for the way of delivering the messages, they always remained anonymous, leaving special marks, patterns, or flowers in fixed locations.
As for the message, it was written on paper and hidden in a fixed location. When the contact person saw those special marks, someone would naturally take the message and find a way to send it out of the palace and deliver it to the Eighth Prince's Mansion.
When Zhou Hanjin saw the crooked words on the note, he subconsciously ignored the ugly font and focused on the content.
——The incident in Huzhou was exposed, and Your Majesty was furious.
His eyes immediately darkened, and he silently lit the note on the oil lamp beside him. When he saw that the note was about to burn his fingers, he slowly let go of it.
Let the burning note burn and fall to the ground.
"Grind the ink." Zhou Hanjin bent his fingers and tapped the table lightly a few times, his eyes falling on the several folders placed in front of him.
Upon hearing this, the eunuch who was waiting beside him immediately stepped forward quietly to grind the ink.
Zhou Hanjin picked up the pen and quickly wrote a letter, which was quickly sent out of the mansion and quietly delivered to the Yao Mansion.
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The hostage house is also in the capital.
Zhou Jialiang, the legitimate son of King Wei, also received a letter at this time. It was sent by carrier pigeon and seemed to have flown from the direction of the border. The content of the letter said that Xi'an was flooded and tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of thousands of civilians had evacuated the city and stationed in the mountains overnight.
As for the other message written below, Zhou Jialiang read three lines at a glance and finished it quickly.
He flicked the letter with his fingers and said with a half-smile, "It will be lively now. If the news gets out, the people will be happy and the court will be even more lively!"
They are all princes, and everyone wants to expel the others from the capital, or completely eliminate the qualifications to compete for the throne.
Such a good handle...
Oh no, if a few handles are found...
Tsk tsk, I guess the court is going to be quite lively.