My Chinese ancestors

Chapter 406 The Darkness of Politics (please vote for me and subscribe)

Wu State.

The fifteenth year of Longxing was also the midsummer of the third year of Kaiyuan of the Xia Kingdom. A gloomy atmosphere enveloped the residence of Gu Chongwen, the prime minister of Shengkang.

The courtyard in the north chamber was guarded by private soldiers, and the atmosphere of the entire courtyard was groggy and depressing.

In the night, the study room was surrounded by candlelight, and the fragrant smell of tea floated on the quaint small table. On the small simple table, Taiwei Fan Li, Zhongshu Shilang Xiao Zhiyi, Weiwei Gao Changjue, Grand Secretary Nong Zhang Chunshou, and the five The ministers were all in the room, looking at the first Prime Minister Gu Chongwen.

There have been two morning court meetings that have not been held to fool some civil and military officials who do not have aristocratic family backgrounds. At this moment, we must work out a strategy to stabilize the court situation as soon as possible.

Everyone expressed their opinions at first, but they each represented the big family behind them, and they were competing for benefits in and out of their words. They talked for an hour, and then began to become quiet.

Led by Gu Chongwen and Fan Li, they convened everyone for discussions almost every day. When the emperor was still there, everyone had the same goal. After the emperor fled, they found that everyone was thinking about what was best for their own people.

Everyone knows this and sees it clearly, but they just can't give the best results.

With every second that passes, the Kingdom of Wu without an emperor will become in danger at any time.

"Don't even think about welcoming His Majesty back. He went there by himself. Even if he regrets now, the Emperor of Xia may not let him go."

"Let Liu Guangchen go. He met with the Emperor of Xia in Luyang two years ago. He is a familiar face after all. He should be able to talk easily and at least ask for a prince to come back."

There was another moment of silence. Taiwei Fan Li patted the table and glanced at the people present.

"It's better to establish a new emperor. In the future, we don't have to worry about Emperor Xia using Kang Chengqian's name to invade Wu."

Zhang Chunshou, the chief minister, stroked his long white beard, nodded, and took the lead in making a statement: "This is a good idea."

"How can other courtiers give an explanation?"

"Just say that Kang Cheng did not care about political affairs and passed the throne to those with outstanding ability. Anyway, the edict is in our hands, so we can write it as we want!" Zhongshu Sheng Xiao Zhiyi laughed.

"Who should be made emperor?" someone asked in the Five Books of Shangshu.

"I think King Jing is good!"

King Jing Kang Zunai was Kang Chengqian's imperial uncle and the third brother of Kang Chengqian's father. He was an honest and dull man. Because of his temperament, everyone felt at ease with King Jing. Therefore, the fiefdom was far away, located in Jingzhou in the southeast by the sea.

He is about fifty-seven years old, has five sons and three daughters, and does not have much of a network of connections. They basically stay in Jingzhou.

After everyone gathered together, they all agreed to support King Jing to ascend the throne. After confirming the candidate, they began to discuss the division of interests, such as salt and iron, river and sea taxes, military rights, which family would be the master, and which family would be the deputy. There was another long period of words. Intense discussions.

After the agreement was reached, early the next morning, Zhongshu Sheng wrote the imperial edict for the emperor's abdication, along with the imperial edict of Zen King Jing Kangzun, and more than 3,000 imperial soldiers and horses rushed to Jingzhou under the stars and the moon.

King Jing Kangzun, who was eating, did not even have time to put down his bowls and chopsticks before listening to the imperial edict. He was still in a state of confusion. Together with several children and his old wife, he was taken to Shengkang by the army to hold the enthronement ceremony.

Until he put on the divine crown, sat on the dragon chair, looked at a group of civil and military officials below to congratulate him, and looked at the splendid hall, trying hard to show a dignified expression, he still looked at a loss.

At the same time that the new emperor of Wu Kingdom ascended the throne, a group of people from the Embroidery Department who came from Luyang in the Central Plains passed through Huizhou. Meng Tuo, the commander of the Iron Spear Rebel Army, facilitated them, disguised themselves, and gave the caravan cover, and crossed the Huai River south to Yue Kingdom. Congzhou entered Nanling County, and then transferred to Lening, the capital of Yue State, without any obstruction.

Most of the villages in the southern Yue Kingdom, with their high mountains and lofty mountains, are located on the mountainside, and they live in poverty. The land at the foot of the mountains that is not abundant is basically used to cultivate fields and grow food, but it is still not enough for the people.

In the past two years, with a close relationship with the Xia Kingdom, grain from the Central Plains was trafficked across the border through caravans, buffering the scarce and high-priced rice to a suitable price.

They were not surprised by the Xia Kingdom's caravan, and even gave them easy access.

Of course, you must also be prepared to bribe the generals who set up roadblocks along the way. Both parties will get an advantage, which means everyone will be happy, and the number of thieves who will cut off paths along the way will be greatly reduced.

In the past two years, the border dispute with Wu has become more and more intense. Although a full-scale war has not yet broken out, the long-term battle means various complicated taxes to the people. Many people are impoverished. In such an environment, it is difficult to serve as a soldier. Making some extra money along the way has formed a certain unwritten rule in the military.

If they don't give it, then they will rebel and wait for the fat sheep to take the bait on the road in front of the caravan. Of course, they will not kill people. After all, this is too bad and will lead to fewer and fewer traders coming.

This kind of thing is also known to the upper-level officials and nobles of the Yue Kingdom. It is good for the soldiers to have such a way to make profits. If they are given less food and pay, it will not cause a mutiny.

However, some officials wanted to bring the matter to the court. Before the memorial was submitted, they were suppressed by Prince Meng Zhuowen as soon as they passed Zhongshu Province.

Soon, he brought the official to the East Palace Office and yelled at him.

"There is a war on the front line, and thousands of soldiers are fighting. If you expose this matter, and the soldiers have no income, how can the war be fought? At that time, the civil and military officials in the court will not be able to lose face, and your majesty will not be able to lose face either. In the end, the soldiers will be gone. Without income, the family can no longer survive, and if the frontline soldiers mutiny, who will bear the responsibility?"

The twenty-nine-year-old prince threw the memorial and hit the kneeling official opposite on the head.

"It's simply confusing. You think you are loyal and passionate for the country and the people, but in fact you are harming others and yourself. The caravan is seeking huge profits and letting the soldiers take a bite of them will not hurt your bones. But you are doing this Once the memorial goes out, if people are going to die, many people will die!"

After scolding him, Meng Zhuowen told the official to take the memorial and get out. When he was leaving, he saw an unwilling expression on the other person's face, so he summoned a eunuch and whispered a few words. The last sentence is probably: "If he still wants to bring this matter to his father, you will find his political flaws and throw him into prison, and let him commit suicide in prison."

After dealing with the matter that bothered him, Meng Zhuowen stretched his muscles and had a fist fight in the backyard of the government office. As a prince and a prince, he had been taught martial arts by masters since he was a child. He did not dare to charge into battle or compete in ordinary competitions. Even two or three third- and fourth-grade Jianghu people could not get close to him.

In the afternoon when he arrived, the prince went to the Baihua Garden of the East Palace and called some of his beloved concubines to have fun in the Chunfeng Tower. It was almost dark when he arrived, and he had dinner before returning to the dormitory.

"Which class of eunuch are you from? Are you a bit unfamiliar?"

The prince walked behind, looking at the eunuchs who were leading the way for him. They were old and looked a little unfamiliar from behind. However, there were more than 300 eunuchs in the East Palace, and as many as 700 maids, not to mention the guards. There are three thousand, and it is obviously impossible to remember them all.

"Your Majesty, this servant is on duty in the seventh shift. The old commander was supposed to greet Your Majesty today, but he caught the cold, so he had to take over the shift."

The eunuch's unique voice cannot be faked by others, and looking at the other person's walking posture, it is also a posture that only a rootless person can walk like this all year round. His thighs are slightly pressed together, his knees are slightly moving, and he takes small steps. If you pretend, you can't be so natural.

After listening to the words of the eunuch who led the way, Meng Zhuowen nodded and said nothing. He took a few guards back to the back garden bedroom. He did not go to the princess's place tonight, not because she was older, but because he felt that the sex was strict and there was no Lots of fun.

After flipping through the books at the desk for a while, the palace maid came over with some healing potion, but was stopped by the eunuch at the door, "Wait a minute, let's verify it at our house first."

The old eunuch held up his cuff and put a silver needle in his hand into the soup bowl. Under the cover of his cuff, some fine powder was sprinkled into the soup.

"Okay, no problem, you can go in."

The old eunuch accepted the silver needle with a smile and asked the guard at the door to open the door before letting the palace maid carry it in.

Late at night, the eunuch on duty came over and found that there was no eunuch on duty at the door of the prince's bedroom. He was quite annoyed. He opened the door gently and looked in. The prince was lying on the bed sleeping peacefully.

He closed the door with confidence and stood quietly on one side with his whisk in hand until the next morning. According to the usual time, it was time to go in and wake up the prince, but he called several times at the door, but there was no answer inside.

The eunuch hurriedly opened the door and went in. Prince Meng Zhuowen was still sleeping peacefully under the quilt. He didn't dare to disturb him and was about to leave, but he felt it was inappropriate, so he called out again. When he saw no response, he suddenly felt uneasy. With a good premonition, he called the guards outside the door and approached quietly.

"His Royal Highness..."

The eunuch called softly and stretched out his hand to touch. The body in the quilt was cold and hard.

"Tai...Prince..."

The eunuch sat down on the ground with a horrified look on his face. Several guards also turned pale with fright and hurriedly turned around to call the imperial doctor. Another group of people rushed to the palace to inform the emperor.

In an instant, the entire palace was in chaos.

After hearing the news, Emperor Meng Tong accidentally broke the porridge bowl in his hand and looked at the crying eunuch with a dull expression, followed closely by the second eunuch who reported the news.

More shocking news was told to the emperor: "The imperial doctor checked and found that the prince showed no signs of poisoning and no injuries on his body. He died in his sleep."

When the news of the prince's death reached the ears of Meng Tong's other six sons, it was different. Although they were all brothers, in the royal family, family ties were hard to describe.

Soon after, the six princes rushed from their fiefdoms to the capital city of Lening with the excuse of attending a funeral.

At the same time, a group of caravans came quietly, filled with fruits from the Yue Kingdom, and quietly left the city. Pei Min, who turned into the leader of the caravan, wore a bamboo hat. After hearing the news, he asked in a low voice Zheng He, also riding a horse.

"What kind of medicine is this so powerful?"

"Haha... What our family knows in the Ming Palace can make people's hearts gradually become paralyzed and stop beating." Zheng He seemed to have this kind of thing at his fingertips, and smiled casually, "It's just that it's hard to match here. Fortunately, Emperor Xian Liu Xie Proficient in pharmacology, I just found a suitable herb and asked Tang Minghuang to try it several times before confirming its efficacy."

Looking at the eunuch's sinister smile, Pei Min frowned, and even he felt a chill creeping up his back.

……

On the way back, the news that the Prince of Yue died suddenly in his dream was also sent back to Luyang, Central Plains. It was already late July when the news arrived.

"Meng Zhaoyi, I have something to tell you."

Su Chen came to this dormitory, looked at the girl who was doing embroidery, and sat opposite her with a calm expression.

"What's the matter, Your Majesty?"

Seeing Su Chen's serious expression and low tone, Meng Yuyin put down the embroidery in her hand and had a bad feeling in her heart.

"Your eldest brother Meng Zhuowen is dead."

　There is a bit of a bottleneck, I hope everyone can understand!

　　Thank you spring breeze

　　

　

(End of this chapter)