Chapter 195: The Poisonous Scholars advised

A carrier pigeon hovered down from the sky and landed accurately in the backyard of the General Office's Office. A personal soldier had already been waiting beside him. He skillfully untied a red tube from the pigeon's legs, spread his feet and ran away. There were already war horses waiting outside the yamen. Several personal soldiers turned over and ran towards the dock outside the Jinshan Acropolis.

Li Weizheng's office was on the treasure ship. At this time, he was writing a report on Zhu Yunwen in the cabin. After surrendering to Zhu Di, he wrote his report on Zhu Yunwen more diligently and seriously. This was not only because he was doing superficial work, but more importantly, he was at an extremely critical moment now. It was the eve of Zhu Yuanzhang's preparation to purge high-ranking officials in the army. If he did not tie himself tightly to Zhu Yunwen's chariot, he might not be spared once Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were red and the sword light was caused by the sword.

Li Weizheng had just finished writing that he was going to run a hundred official schools in Liaodong so that all children could enter school. At this time, a burst of rapid footsteps came from outside the door, followed by a personal soldier report: "Sir, the pigeon letter has been sent."

"Let them come in!" Li Wei put down his pen.

After a moment, a personal soldier walked in, half-kneeled and saluted, and presented the Gexin with both hands and said, "Sir, it's a letter sent from Xi'an Prefecture."

Li Weizheng has not gone out to sea these days, just waiting for this pigeon letter. He took the pigeon letter and opened it impatiently. The letter was written by Sun Ji. Everything went well. Shao Wenda was willing to defect to Liaodong and convinced Zhu Ci. At this time, the handwritten letter written by Zhu Ci to Lan Yu was already on the way, and he had sent someone to Guizhou to deliver a letter to Lu Siyuan.

"Good job!" Li Weizheng was very excited. He put the letter together. He picked up the pen and continued to write the cover letter. He handed the letter to a personal soldier and told him: "This letter should be sent to the capital immediately. Let's set off tonight. Don't wait for tomorrow."

"As for your order!" The personal soldiers took the letter and left quickly.

After finishing the work, Li Weizheng ordered: "You can let Chen Yu come to see me!"

After a moment, a tall young general walked into the room and bowed and said, "Last general Chen Yu, see the general."

Chen Yu is a young Qianhu promoted by Li Wei from the hundred households. He is the commander of the Musket Army. He led 3,000 soldiers to be stationed on Guanglu Island outside Liaodong. These 3,000 people are not ordinary soldiers, but are all equipped with new weapons flintlock guns. They are elite soldiers selected from the muskets of the Liaodong guards. They practice the use of flintlock guns on Guanglu Island. In addition, there is a team of five hundred soldiers stationed on Zhanzidao. They train new artillery. Both armies are absolutely confidential and completely isolated from the outside world. However, every half a month, a supply ship is ashore.

This time, Chen Yu from Qianhu came to report his work. When Li Wei saw that he was about to report to him, he waved his hand and smiled: "No need to say, I am going to Guanglu Island now. I want to see the power of my musket army in person."

Chen Yu quickly agreed, "Yes! I will accompany the adults to Guangkashima."

A quarter of an hour later, Li Weizheng's treasure ship slowly set off and headed south. It would bypass Lushun Port and turn around to Guanglu Island.

At the bow of the boat, Li Wei was wearing a military uniform. The sea breeze blew on his face. He looked at the boundless sea and his heart had already flown thousands of miles away.

Guizhou has been exiled and sent prisoners since ancient times. It is remote and closed. It has almost never been deliberately developed by the imperial court for thousands of years.

In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang formally approved the memorial of Fu Youdi's military farming in Guizhou. Three hundred thousand troops were stationed in Guizhou. In the same year, Zhu Yuanzhang sent 200,000 of his families to Guizhou and followed his husband to Guizhou to cultivate farming. As a result, the land of Guizhou appeared one by one, which lasted for six hundred years. To this day, their descendants still live in these well-preserved trunks...

In the 25th year of Hongwu, Lan Yu won a great victory in Handong. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately ordered him to go to Guizhou to inspect the military farming matters. In early February of the following year, the imperial officials from the court went to Guizhou again, and appointed Lan Yu as the crown prince's grand tutor, and ordered him to return to Fengyang to governor the kings to perform troops.

The spring breeze in March blew green the land of Guizhou, and swallows were flying in the wind. The mountains were filled with large patches of azaleas, peach blossoms, pear blossoms, pink and white, and colorful. The moisture of the soil was mixed with the fragrance of wild grass and leaves, and the green air of strong seedlings filled the warm southern air, which made people drunk.

But in this spring full of vitality, there is a kind of tension and uneasiness quietly restless. In the Tianlongtun Castle in Pingbawei, central Guizhou, Lan Yu was paceing back and forth with his hands behind his back, considering a decision that concerns his life fate.

In fact, Lan Yu was just passing by here. He had just returned from a patrol in Pudingwei and was about to go to Fengyang with orders. However, when he arrived at Pingbawei, Lan Yu suddenly decided to visit an old friend at Tianlongtun Castle. An emergency letter also arrived, stopping his progress.

At this moment, the letter was lying on the table not far away. The letter was written by King Zhu Ci of Qin. Lan Yu read the letter less than ten times and almost memorized the original words in it. In fact, Zhu Ci told him something that the emperor had decided to attack him. This time he returned to Fengyang, which was the day when his whole family was exterminated.

This messenger made Lan Yu feel a shock that he had never felt before. After killing so many founding heroes, did Zhu Yuanzhang finally aim his butcher's knife at him? In fact, Lan Yu already believed it. This was not only because the letter was written by the eldest son of the Ming Dynasty, but more importantly, Lan Yu knew Zhu Yuanzhang so well. In twenty years, there were still a few founding heroes left. They were always killed and demoted for one reason or another, and they died of illness soon. Where did these people get so many illnesses? But why wasn't any of his Zhu family's royal family sick?

Since his son was killed innocently, Lan Yu knew that his day would come sooner or later, but he did not expect that it would be now. Wasn't Zhu Yuanzhang afraid that he would rebel in Guizhou?

"The old general, the emperor is playing hard to get. He is afraid that you will be suspicious, so he asked you to come to Guizhou. In this way, when you summon you to the court again, you will not have any doubts."

The speaker was Lan Yu who came to Tianlongtun Castle to visit his old friend. This man was from Zhouzhuang, Suzhou Prefecture, with his surname and name. He was also called Shen Wansan. Shen Wansan angered Zhu Yuanzhang in the early years of Hongwu and was exiled to Yunnan. At that time, the King of Liang in Yunnan had surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. However, in the 14th year of Hongwu, the King of Liang rebelled again. The war in Yunnan was raging. Shen Wansan came to Guizhou to do business with the help of Mrs. Shexiang, a minority leader in Guizhou. He saw the business opportunities of the 300,000 troops stationed the army. He succeeded in doing business on the tea and horse roads in Guizhou and Yunnan, and gradually became a huge wealth.

Chen Wansan is 88 years old this year and is almost at the end of his life. He lives in Tianlongtun Castle with his descendants who escaped from Zhouzhuang. Li Weizheng's cousin Gu Ying bought a shop and was directly related to the Shen family's escape. Here, Chen Wansan got the protection of his grandson-in-law, Mu Chun, now in Xiping Hou, Yunnan, and can calmly live his old age.

Although Chen Wansan was almost at the end of his life, he was always worried about Zhu Yuanzhang killing his descendants repeatedly. Seeing that Lan Yu had a chance to rebel, he advised him again: "Can the old general know why Mu Ying, Hou Xiping, could he have a good end? If he had not guarded Yunnan, how could he live until last year? How could his son inherit his title? He has been the king of Yunnan for generations. It is not that the emperor does not want to move the Mu family, but dares not move. This is a jealous weapon for the sake of the rat! If the old general really wants to be independent, I am willing to disperse all his family's resources to help."

Chen Wansan's persuasion really made Lan Yu feel moved. At this time, someone at the door reported: "Mr. Lu is here!"

Lan Yu was excited and hurriedly said, "Please invite him in."

After a moment, his confidant Mr. Lu walked in. Of course, this Mr. Lu was Lü Siyuan. Lü Siyuan was ordered by Li Weizheng to join the Yan Prince's Mansion with the pseudonym Lu Feng. He originally wanted to be Zhu Di's son's seat, but he was soon recognized by Zhu Di. He admitted that he was not optimistic about Jiang Yan and ran away. Zhu Di, who was eager to seek talent, immediately used him as his aide. After Lan Yu returned from the western expedition to Handong last year, Zhu Di secretly ordered Lu Siyuan to surrender to Lan Yu and prepared to instigate Lan Yu at critical moments.

Zhu Di's strategy was exactly the same as Li Weizheng, which was to arouse Lan Yu's rebellion. He could take advantage of the chaos in the world, but he didn't know that Lu Siyuan was the insider sent by Li Weizheng to ambush him, and he didn't know that Li Weizheng had already taken the lead and used Zhu Feng's hand to warn Lan Yu that he would be killed when he returned to Beijing.

Zhu Di didn't know, but Lu Siyuan knew that he was waiting for Lan Yu in Guiyang Prefecture, but at the same time he received a letter sent by Zhu Di and Li Weizheng. He immediately rushed to Tianlong Castle. Whether it was Zhu Di or Li Weizheng, the tasks given to him were the same, and he persuaded Lan Yu to become independent in Guizhou.

Lu Siyuan walked in quickly, and he said with a gloomy face: "I heard that the general was named Grand Tutor and was about to return to Beijing to report his duties. I will come and dissuade him."

Lan Yu was shocked and asked hurriedly: "Mr. Lu heard what news?"

Lu Siyuan smiled faintly and said, "Guizhou is closed, what news can I get? I was thinking, if the emperor wants to kill the general, he might find an excuse to go to Beijing. Sure enough, he heard that the Xuanzhi official was coming."

Lan Yu's face was solemn. He asked Lu Siyuan to sit down and asked sincerely: "Mr. Lu tell me why did you see that the emperor wants to kill me?"

At this time, Chen Wansan also sat down. Seeing that Lu Siyuan was also persuading Lan Yu, he stopped saying a word. Lu Siyuan glanced at him and said, "It's very simple, because the emperor appointed the crown prince. The crown prince was young and could not control the important officials. The emperor was worried that after he went west, what should he do if the important officials who held military power like the old general did not obey the court's supervision. So he would take advantage of his life to eliminate you one by one, so as to free up the position of the crown prince's direct followers like Li Weizheng. In fact, the emperor's true meaning was to let the crown prince control a certain direct army so as not to be constrained by his uncles, and the old general and others were the biggest obstacle."

Lan Yu suddenly realized that he had only known that the emperor wanted to kill him, but he didn't know why he killed him. After Lu Siyuan's guidance, Lan Yu's heart finally understood. He sighed and gave him Zhu Chuang's letter, "Sir, look at this letter! Even the eldest son of the emperor warned me, how could I not believe it?"

Lu Siyuan took the letter and read it, then asked Lan Yu, "What is the old general's idea?"

Lan Yu shook her head and said, "I feel confused. Mr. Shen just now advised me to be independent. To be honest, I am a little moved, but I want to hear what Mr. Lu means."

‘Self-reliable?’ Lu Siyuan said to himself. He pondered for a moment before slowly saying: “My idea is to walk in three steps.”

Lan Yu was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "Sir, please tell me, what three steps should I do?"

"Don't be anxious, please listen to me slowly."

Lu Siyuan smiled slightly and said, "The first step is that the old general will temporarily postpone his return to Beijing. You can write a letter to the emperor. Now is an important moment for farming and you cannot leave for the time being. At the same time, the old general must immediately summon the generals of the guards in Guizhou to eliminate dissidents, support personal guards, and firmly control the military power of Guizhou. The second step is that when the emperor kills Fu Youren or Feng Sheng, the old general can formally write to the emperor, saying that he has no intention of dissatisfaction and ask the emperor to protect the old general's family."

"What if he really killed my family?" Lan Yu suddenly interrupted. This was what he was most concerned about.

Lu Siyuan sneered, and he looked into Lan Yu's eyes and said word by word: "He is probably afraid of forcing the general to rebel and dare not kill the old general's family, but we must have the worst plan. If we really get that step, the old general will take the third step, lead the King of Guizhou, and break the border and govern."

"Bang!" With a loud bang, Lan Yu punched the table hard.

"Dry!"

In February of the 26th year of Hongwu, Lan Yu refused to return, and the history of the Ming Dynasty took another fork from here.
Chapter completed!