Chapter 222: The Storm of Kyoto (I)

In early spring February, several warm spring rains came in a row. White plum blossoms and pink peach blossoms bloomed one after another, and the colorful flowers were covered with colorful flowers, covering both sides of the official road. This is in Dezhou, Shandong. On the official road, farmers who bought rice seeds to drive home, hawkers carrying carriages, porters who drove mule carriages to deliver goods, and wealthy families who went out were in a constant stream of horse-drawn carriages, big carriages, small carriages, and pedestrians.

Suddenly, a sound of horse hooves came from the north, and hundreds of black shadows appeared in the distance of the official road. The sound of horse hooves was getting closer and closer, like a storm, and the pedestrians on the road were so scared that they dodged to both sides.

"Along the way, the military and civilians listened to the arrival of His Highness the King of Yan, so they retreated twenty steps away from the official road. Those who violated the orders would be severely punished, regardless of death or injury."

Dozens of cavalry rushed past, and the cavalry behind began to clear the field, driven away with whips and sticks. The pedestrians called their children and girls and dodged to both sides of the road. The road was in chaos. A mule-driven porter was slowing down and was hit by a stick on his shoulder. He couldn't help but complain in a low voice: "This is Shandong, the territory of the King of Qi, what's the aura of the King of Yan?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a crisp sound of "bang", a blood-red whip mark appeared on his face. An officer pointed at him with a whip and cursed: "Bastard! Are you looking for death?" The porter was so scared that his face pale, he didn't even care about the mule cart, and ran away with his head in his arms.

After a moment, there was no one on the official road, with only a dozen cavalry patrolling back and forth. All the people were driven to the wilderness on both sides, and many people simply continued to rush in the wilderness.

About half an hour later, a black line finally appeared in the distance. As the black line got closer, the flags were waving, the helmets and armors were bright, and a cavalry was coming with murderous intent. This was the team of King Yan Zhu Di to Beijing. According to the upper limit stipulated by the court, he brought three thousand of the most elite cavalry.

Zhu Di's king's carriage was in the middle of the team and was closely surrounded by hundreds of personal soldiers. However, he did not sit in the carriage, but rode with horses like the soldiers. Zhu Di held a golden helmet and a Japanese Japanese sword in front of the saddle, and looked ahead with a cold look, as if thinking about something. Behind him was a white-clothed handsome man, who had just returned from Guizhou. This time, Yao Guangxiao did not follow Zhu Di south, but stayed in Beiping to guard. Lu Siyuan temporarily replaced Yao Guangxiao's position.

Lu Siyuan was a counselor that Zhu Di admired very much, especially his vicious methods. He forced the emperor to vomit blood and paralyzed with the three strategies of heaven, earth and man. Later, he suggested that Lan Yu attack Sichuan, disrupting the imperial siege of Guizhou, and causing the emperor to fall into a severe coma. It can be said that most of the life of the emperor was thrown into Lu Siyuan's hands.

But this time, Lu Siyuan returned from Guizhou was not his order, but Lu Siyuan's unauthorized actions. Zhu Di's original plan was to let Lu Siyuan lie next to Lan Yu. After the Qin King and Lan Yu form an alliance in the future, he will play a key role in the middle. However, Lu Siyuan told him that one of his book boys stole a letter from him and reported to Lan Yu for reward. Fortunately, he was surrounded by Lan Yu and fled from Guizhou in panic.

When something unexpected happened, Zhu Di had no choice but to do anything, but Lu Siyuan's return also gave him a powerful counselor. Not only that, he also brought back an extremely important information that Qin and Jin had secretly formed an alliance. Needless to say, this must be the news that Lan Yu got from the King of Qin.

"Mr. Lu, I heard that you and Li Weizheng from Liaodong seem to have a feud?" Zhu Di slowed down his war horse and asked Lu Siyuan with a smile. A few days ago, Leng Qianqiu, a thousand households in the Jinyiwei, came to join him and happened to meet Lu Siyuan. He told Zhu Di that the feud between Lu Siyuan and Li Weizheng from Liaodong was very deep, which surprised Zhu Di a little, and he didn't know about it.

Lu Siyuan smiled and said slowly: "Actually, there is no such thing as a grudge, but I just fell in love with Li Weizheng once. Your Highness also knows that it was Zhao Yue's incident back then. I have taken it lightly and no longer cared about it."

Zhu Di felt a little relieved. Li Wei was an important piece of pawn for him. He didn't want internal chaos. If necessary, he would come forward to mediate them. However, since Li Weizheng returned from the east to Japan, Zhu Di gradually understood one thing. Li Weizheng did not really surrender to him, but wanted to establish a strategic cooperative relationship with him. To put it bluntly, they were just using each other. This sign became clearer after Li Weizheng resisted the order and refused to enter Beijing. Li Weizheng was a completely independent warlord and could not become his subordinate.

After communicating this, Zhu Di had no choice but to do anything about Li Weizheng's wings, and he could not even buy the imperial edict of his father. So what can he do with this person? The only hope now is that Li Weizheng can help him ascend the throne. Zhu Di is confident in this regard. He knew that Li Weizheng could not have anything to do with the King of Qin. The hatred between these two was too deep. He also knew that Li Weizheng would not help Zhu Yunwen. After his father-in-law publicly severed his relationship with him, he was abandoned by Zhu Yunwen. Even if Zhu Yunwen wanted to recruit him now, Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai and others would not agree. Therefore, Li Weizheng could only cooperate with him and had the opportunity to annex his army. If he could kill it, of course it would be best. If he really couldn't kill it, he would seal him to Goryeo or overseas. In short, he would not give him Liaodong.

Among the three strong men of Qin, Jin and Yan, although Zhu Di's army had the strongest combat effectiveness, the Beiping where he was located was not as powerful as Guanzhong and Taiyuan in terms of population or financial resources, so there were not many troops under him, with only more than 100,000 people. Qin and Jin have recruited soldiers since last year. It is said that the total army has exceeded 300,000 people, and there are 200,000 troops on Lan Yu's side. It can be said that the power of the Qin King is far greater than that of him and can compete with the court.

To this end, Zhu Di planned to expand eastward and annex the army of Liao, Ning and Liaodong, especially the cavalry of Ning and the navy of Liaodong, which were all highly combat-effective troops. The total number of troops in the three places was nearly 200,000. If he could annex the army of three places, he could raise troops to go south. Just as he was actively planning to expand eastward, the news of the alliance between Qin and Jin was like a wake-up call ringing behind Zhu Di.

Zhu Di pondered for a moment, then asked Lu Siyuan: "How does Mr. Lu view Qin and Jin alliance?"

Lu Siyuan smiled slightly and said, "The Qin and Jin are both ambitious people, with clear goals. There is only one position in the future. How can they divide them? The subordinates think that the two people's alliance is not the norm, but a temporary combination of interests. Their purpose of alliance is nothing more than two. The most likely is to unite against the court and discuss the division of the spoils after the imperial army is completely defeated. I used to think this, but now I think this is not their real intention to form an alliance."

"Why?"

"The reason is very simple. I heard that both of them have stood up and went to the capital. This shows that they have no plans to rebel yet and will not rebel publicly within at least one year. Otherwise, the two will never go to Beijing. But if they do not rebel, what is the point of their alliance? I don't know if Your Highness has considered this. If they are not targeting the court, who will they target?"

Zhu Di sighed and said, "I know that their alliance is actually aimed at me."

"That's right. My subordinates have seen through it. Qin and Jin have formed an alliance to deal with Your Highness. The only ones who are qualified to compete for the world are Qin, Jin, and Yan. Qin and Jin want to go south to chase the tripod. They cannot be afraid of Your Highness's threat. Therefore, only by destroying Your Highness first can they have no worries. Jin and Yan are connected, and with the power of Jin, the power of Jin is not your opponent of Your Highness. Only by joining the King of Qin can you have a chance to win. My subordinates have been able to infer their strategic intentions, first jointly destroy Yan, then Jin and King of Jin annex Liaodong to the east, then Shandong, and Qin King marched into Sichuan, joining forces with Lan Yu, and then going east to Jingxiang, which will form a siege against the court. Perhaps in the end they will divide the river and govern, north of Jin and south of Qin, and divide the Ming Dynasty equally. This may be possible."

After listening to Lu Siyuan's analysis, Zhu Di's face was extremely gloomy. In fact, he had already obtained news from the Qin King's counselor Shao Wenda that the Qin and Jin alliance was probably targeting him, but the news was very vague, and it was not as thorough as Lu Siyuan's analysis. It was completely possible that Lu Siyuan said that the rule of the river was completely possible. Zhu Di knew Zhu Ci very well. As long as he could take the position of emperor, he could give up any principles. He had no historical responsibility to the Ming Dynasty, just to be the emperor.

Lu Siyuan looked at Zhu Di and pondered. He knew that his words had touched his mind, so he smiled and said, "Your Highness, don't worry too much. Qin and Jin jointly deal with Your Highness. Who knows the final result of An Zhi is not going to eat them?"

Zhu Di shook his head and sighed: "My plan is to eat Liaodong, Liaoxi and Ningguo first, and the Qin and Jin alliance disrupted my deployment."

Lu Siyuan was shocked and hurriedly said, "Your Highness must not be. Liaoning is just a fox and rabbit, Qin and Jin are tiger and wolf. Your Highness advances eastward, just give Qin and Jin an excuse and opportunity. At that time, they will join forces with Liaoning to fight back. Your Highness is attacked from both sides and will not be far from danger! The subordinates' opinion is to appease Liaoning, making them believe that Your Highness has no intention of annexing them. Then Your Highness will concentrate on dealing with Qin and Jin, and march westward on the pretext of calling on the kings of the world to suppress Lan Yu. At that time, if Qin and Jin confronted His Highness, they would lose their righteousness first. If they did not confront His Highness, the Yan army would have gone deep into the two places and made them retreat. This is Meng Ming's plan to attack Guo. At that time, Your Highness would use the excuse of destroying Lan Yu and lead the troops and horses to him. When Lan Yu was destroyed, how could Jianwen care?"

Lu Siyuan's words made Zhu Di suddenly realize. He jumped off his horse and politely said, "God gave me the Lord, so God wanted me to win the will of the world. Please accept my tribute."

Lu Siyuan also hurriedly dismounted and saluted, "I dare not. I only know tricks but not military tactics. Master Daoyan is the talent of heaven and earth. With him here, why worry about the world? How dare the light of fireflies be better than Haoyue? I am willing to assist the prince and ask your highness to fulfill it."

Zhu Di understood what Lu Siyuan meant, and he knew that Daoyan was good at everything, but he was a little narrow-minded. In the past, he thought that Li Weizheng would threaten him, so he used a secret move, causing Li Weizheng to be almost killed. Of course, Daoyan would not say these things, but Zhu Di knew that Daoyan refused to go south this time, because of him, because of Lu Siyuan, he could not withstand two tigers in one mountain, and even Lu Siyuan himself could see it.

Zhu Di sighed secretly. Now it is time to use people, so they must not cause conflicts. Assisting his son is indeed a good way. It can not only use Lu Siyuan, but also calm Daoyan's dissatisfaction. However, the eldest son Gao Chi's master is Daoyan, so he can no longer let Lu Siyuan go. However, the second son Gao Xu does need a strategy person. Last time he thought of giving Lu Siyuan to him, which can just solve this problem.

Zhu Di had a certain plan in his mind, but he did not say it out loud, but smiled faintly and said, "I have my own opinions on this matter, just don't let the sir make things difficult for you."

Just when the King of Yan left Beiping and headed south, King Qin Zhu Chuang was packing his luggage and preparing to leave Xi'an Prefecture, but he brought more than 3,000 troops, but 10,000 troops. This was the suggestion of the adviser Shao Wenda. Five thousand troops could be stationed in Fengyang, and the other five thousand troops pretended to be three thousand troops to enter the capital. Anyway, no one would come to count it in detail. In the past two years, Zhu Chuang has become more and more respectful to Shao Wenda, and Shao Wenda has indeed given him many ideas, such as borrowing

The palace was in danger and forced to borrow Guanzhong tax grain. In name, it was built, but in fact it was used to recruit soldiers and horses. Zhu Chuang sold all his property and sold all his money to buy troops. He had 80,000 guards in the royal palace. After large-scale expansion, his army had reached 180,000, and was the leader of all vassal kings. With a large number of troops as a backing, Zhu Chuang was full of confidence and had already begun to dream of his emperor.

Shao Wenda is now the number one celebrity around Zhu Chuang, but his life is not easy. The questioning of the King of Yan and Li Weizheng's secret orders always appear in front of him from time to time, which makes him frightened. The more Zhu Chuang valued him, the more he was afraid he was. The higher he climbed, the heavier he fell.

Shao Wenda's luggage was packed by his wife and concubine, and he sat alone in the study, stunned. A month ago, he received a secret order from Li Weizheng, ordering him to urge Qin and Jin to form an alliance to deal with the King of Yan. He did this, but he always felt that Li Weizheng's purpose was not that simple. In the past or two years, many people said that Li Weizheng's goal was ambitious and wanted to be the King of Goryeo, but Shao Wenda knew that Li Weizheng's ambition was not as simple as being the King of Goryeo. He was walking the most dangerous path in the world, and at the cost of scouting homes and destroying nine clans.

Then, if he was caught in, once Li Wei was failing, would he also have to pay the price of raiding the family?

"Master, you have everything packed up and you can set off directly tomorrow morning." Shao Wenda's wife brought a bowl of ginseng soup in and placed it in front of him. Seeing that her husband was worried and browsed, she asked with concern: "Master, what happened?"

"Oh! Don't ask, I'll ask you, how much money does our family have?"

Shao Wenda's wife lowered her head and thought about it. In the past two years, her husband has brought back a lot of money, and the family's embarrassment is gone. She remembered that she had just ordered it a few days ago, "Master, it seems that there are 13,000 taels."
Chapter completed!