Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 507 Jiao Lian
Inside the carriage, Yuan Pengnian was really worried. If there was a second person in Guilin city who was more stressed than Qu Shixu, who had an overview of the situation in Guilin, it was Yuan Pengnian.

In the current situation, King Gui's army has already moved away from Guilin. Even if they return to the army, they cannot be Wang Yan's opponent. With the strength of the outer city, it is only a matter of time before Guilin is occupied by Wang Yan.

The result of King Gui's regime is only the two paths of burning jade and stone together or King Gui voluntarily returning to the vassal, and the task Wang Yan gave him is to prevent the king Gui regime from burning jade and stone together.

As a speculative literati with no bottom line, his appearance has been completely known by Wang Yan, and he can be discarded at any time. If he wants to continue to serve as a high-ranking official, he must show his ability, otherwise Wang Yan has no need to raise a man with no bottom line. Incompetent and incompetent.

He hadn't sent King Gui out of the city before, so Wang Yan was probably disappointed in him, and Qu Shixu and the others probably had doubts about him, so he was under a lot of pressure.

At this time, Qu Shixu was very tough, unwilling to bow to Wang Yan, and the war was basically inevitable, so his task was to bribe the generals in the city and help Wang Yan quickly enter the city.

The carriage stopped slowly in front of a mansion gate in the west of the city. Yuan Pengnian got off the carriage and walked directly to the gate. He already felt that there were people watching around. The dignitaries and generals in the army are also the targets of surveillance.

Yuan Pengnian looked at the closed mansions and saw that there was no one in front of them. A few people in the distance were poking their heads in the alley, obviously watching, but the three-day deadline was about to pass, and he couldn't care about the consequences at this time.

Yuan Pengnian knocked on the door himself, and after a while, the small door next to him creaked open, revealing the watchful eyes of the housekeeper, who immediately recognized him, and hurriedly said: "So it's Yuan Yushi, please come in quickly! "

There are also power struggles within King Gui, and civil servants form cliques in troubled times. First of all, they must have at least the support of a town of soldiers and horses before they can speak forcefully.

At the beginning, Donglin couldn't fight Ma Ruan, largely because he didn't have Xunzhen's support. Later, in order to counter Ma Ruan, Donglin hooked up with Zuozhen, which led to the collapse of the entire Hongguang court.

Yuan Pengnian was looking for Xinxing Hou Jiao Lian, who was one of Qu Shixu's main reliances in the regime of King Gui. Yuan Pengnian used to have close contacts with Jiao Lian as a subordinate official of Qu Shisi, and often went to the mansion to negotiate, so most of the housekeepers and servants know him.

Yuan Pengnian walked into the house, and asked the housekeeper in a low voice: "Is your Marquis here?"

"Of course. Now that the management is so strict, where else can Hou Ye go besides patrolling the city? Yuan Yushi, please come with me."

Yuan Pengnian followed the butler all the way into the inner house, waited for a while in front of a small courtyard, and Jiao Lian greeted him with a smile, "I really didn't expect that Yuan Yushi would come at this time, time is not long, please come in quickly !"

Jiao Lian was originally an officer under King Jingjiang. When Wang Yan entered Guizhou to quell the rebellion of King Jingjiang, he and Qu Shixu captured King Jingjiang together, which quickly put down the rebellion of King Jingjiang.

At this time, at least [-]% of the people in the city were Jiao Lian's subordinates. Yuan Pengnian chose to start with him, not only because he was strong enough to take on the heavy responsibility of meeting the soldiers outside the city, but also because Jiao Lian had a precedent of defecting.

Regardless of whether he chose to abandon King Jingjiang out of righteousness or for himself, he is one of the most likely to be persuaded by the current situation.

In terms of righteousness, the Longwu court was the central government of the Ming Dynasty in name after all. Once Guilin fought, it would definitely not benefit the Ming Dynasty. If Jiao Lian respected righteousness, he would most likely surrender.

From his own point of view, the current situation is almost exactly the same as that of King Jingjiang back then. He was surrounded by imperial soldiers and horses in Guilin, and there was no hope of resistance. In order to protect himself, Jiao Lian should open the city and surrender.

The only thing that made Yuan Pengnian uncertain was that King Gui's status was much higher than that of King Jingjiang, and as the real legal heir, Jiao Lian was most likely to protect King Gui just like Qu Shixu.

"I'm bothering Lord Hou!"

Yuan Pengnian cupped his hands and went straight into the courtyard. The two of them sat down in the room, and Jiao Lian was unambiguous. It must be related to the situation that he came to the door at this time, so he went straight to the point and said, "Yuan Yushi, this What's the matter when you come to my house?"

Yuan Pengnian sighed and said: "Lord Hou and I both support King Gui and want to help King Gui become the emperor, but I never thought that the plan would be better than changing. The court moved so fast, and Qu Ge's old intention was to burn everything together, but I thought it was very inappropriate. , it doesn't matter if our courtiers die, but His Royal Highness Gui Wang must be fine. What do you think, Lord Hou?"

Listening to the words, Jiao Lian narrowed his eyes, as if he wanted to see through Yuan Pengnian, he was silent for a while, staring at him and said, "Yuan Yushi has taken refuge in the imperial court, right?"

Yuan Pengnian originally wanted to hide his identity, but after hearing Jiao Lian's words, he couldn't help but smile awkwardly, "How could Lord Hou know? That's right, I came to see Lord Hou today to represent the Duke of Chu, and I hope that Lord Hou can open the city. Door!"

This time, Wang Yan asked Gui Wang to abdicate and return to the vassal on the grounds that King Gui framed the minister and did not follow the court's order. Combined with Yuan Pengnian's performance after his return and what he said just now, Jiao Lian guessed that Yuan Pengnian might have taken refuge in Wang Yan , I didn't expect to be guessed by him.

At this time, Jiao Lian's face darkened when he heard this, and he didn't say a word. He needed to clear his mind first, and after a while he smiled bitterly and said, "Thanks to Wang Xianggong and Yuan Yushi, but Jiao wants to know how Wang Xianggong plans to deal with it." King Gui, and the Quge Ministry?"

One mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, and the existence of King Gui to supervise the country is obviously to divide the power of the Longwu court. Before the Longwu court did not gain a foothold in Guangnan, it may be tolerated. Shangyuan Pengnian took refuge with Wang Yan, and Wang Yan knew about the fact that the King Gui regime framed him, so Wang Yan would never tolerate the continued existence of the King Gui regime.

As a general of King Gui's regime, Jiao Lian had expected that there would be a conflict between the imperial court and King Gui. He also knew that King Gui would be defeated. In fact, since the beginning of the year, King Gui's regime sent troops to Yunnan, but instead of making any achievements, he deceived Mu Tianbo, Duke of Guizhou. People have already been disappointed with King Gui's regime.

Yuan Pengnian breathed a sigh of relief, and said with a smile: "Master Hou, you can rest assured. Yuan can guarantee that Wang Xianggong has absolutely no intention of harming His Highness King Gui, and officials who support Gui will not be persecuted. However, King Gui's future Activities will definitely be restricted, Qu Gelao and others, the imperial court may be idle to support them!"

Said the punishment of King Gui and Qu Shixu, which made Jiao Lian feel that Yuan Pengnian's words were very sincere.

He was promoted by Qu Shiqi. If you say that you shouldn’t betray him, but Qu Shiqi’s hard work is purely for fame. , is not a choice that a rational person should make.

"As long as Wang Xianggong does not harm His Royal Highness King Gui and Qu Ge's department, Jiao is willing to open the city and welcome Wang Xianggong into the city."

Yuan Pengnian was overjoyed when he heard the words, and immediately the two discussed some details, seeing that the time for martial law was coming soon, they hurried out.

Jiao Lian sent Yuan Pengnian outside the gate of the mansion, but saw a group of soldiers suddenly running in front of the mansion and surrounded his mansion.

At this time, a man walked out from among the soldiers, it was Li Kaiyuan, the prefect of Guilin, and Jiao Lian said coldly, "Li Zhizhou, what are you doing in my house?"

"I would like to ask Peng Yushi, what are you doing in Xinxinghou's Mansion?" Li Kaiyuan didn't answer Jiao Lian, but asked Yuan Pengnian coldly.

"I didn't violate the ban. It's my private business to come to Xinxinghou's mansion. What does Li Zhizhou mean? Are you going to slander me and Xinxinghou?"

Li Kaiyuan stared at Yuan Pengnian coldly, and after a long while, he snorted, "Master Yuan, let me warn you first, if you want to collude with others and betray His Royal Highness, as long as I catch some evidence, I will not hesitate Kill you and show your head to the public!"

Yuan Pengnian and Jiao Lian's faces were sinking like water, Li Kaiyuan looked at them, and led his troops away with a wave of his hand.

(Thanks to Yuedong Woxin for the reward, Pushik’s monthly ticket)
(End of this chapter)