Chapter 273: Eve of the report

The February day is still chilly. Although the sun is bright, it is not warm. The air is still a little chill. After more than a month of trekking, Li Weizheng finally returned to his home in the capital. Li Weizheng's mansion is not in the capital, but in a large mansion in the suburbs, his family has returned to the capital. At this time, 20,000 guards were stationed near his house, and 50,000 soldiers he just brought. In this way, his Liaodong army already had a large army of 70,000 in the capital. This is a number of no more or less. It is neither sensitive, but it has enough power.

In the afternoon, Li Wei was reading his report on his Western Expedition in his study. The report was sent to Beijing as early as the middle of the journey. He would officially go to the above-mentioned position tomorrow. He knew that someone would attack him, especially the deaths of Zhang Yi and the King of Shu. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell what was going on at a glance.

The study was very warm. A basin of charcoal fire made the room very dry, filled with a scent of charcoal. Just as Li Wei was reading the report carefully, the door was gently pushed open. His wife Zitong walked in from outside with a cup of hot tea. She put the tea on the table and gently stroked her husband's shoulders and said, "Let's have a rest!"

Li Wei was putting down the report, leaning his head gently on his wife's soft body, and holding her hand. This feeling made him extremely warm. Only after he has been fighting outside for many years can he cherish the time he spent with his family.

"Are you happy to live in the capital?" Li Weizheng asked softly.

Zi Tong smiled and said softly: "Actually, it's the same everywhere. As long as you are at home, look at how happy the children are these two days."

Li Weizheng nodded and said with some emotion: "After a blink of an eye, I realized that the little guys have grown up. I have really spent too little time with my children over the years. I will stay in the capital most of the time in the future. Let's try my best to live together!"

Ye Zitong heard that her husband would stay at home in the future, and she was extremely happy. She couldn't help but hug her husband's neck and act coquettishly: "Darang, you have too little time with me."

Li Wei felt a little warm, hugged her on his lap, and put her hand into her clothes to touch his wife's charming body, while laughing in her ear: "I'll sleep with you tonight and give you everything I owe you."

Ye Zitong blushed and her heartbeated, and her husband touched her body and felt hot all over. She couldn't help but breathe in a low voice. She held his hand and said tremblingly: "Darang, don't...night now!"

Li Weizheng smiled, let go of Zitong, took another tea and asked her, "Will anyone come to visit you after you return to Beijing?"

"The wives of several ministers have been here, and Empress Ma has also come. She likes your precious daughters so much that she must take them into the palace to live for a few days, but I declined."

Speaking of this, Zi Tong suddenly remembered something. She hesitated for a moment and said, "Dalang, Su Tong and I want to go back to our parents' home to see our grandmother. Do you think it's okay?"

Li Weizheng smiled slightly and said, "What's the right or wrong with this? If you want to go, go!"

"I'm afraid you will dislike your father."

Li Weizheng shook his head and said, "No matter what he said, family affection is always endless, especially my grandmother has always been the person I respect. When you go back to your parents' home, take the children to her and take them to see."

Seeing that he agreed, Zi Tong kissed him hard on the face with joy. A gust of wind walked out of the study room. A laughter came from afar, "I told Su Tong to go, so that she would be happy."

Li Wei was touching her face and couldn't help but smile bitterly. She had been married for seven or eight years, but her childish aura in her bones could not be changed, and it was revealed inadvertently.

Li Weizheng took another sip of tea and his eyes returned to the report.

Zhu Yunwen was particularly happy these days. The Lan Yu Rebellion seemed to be a cancer growing on the Ming Dynasty. It has caused peace in the Ming Dynasty for several years. Even the emperor's grandfather died largely because of worrying about the Lan Yu Rebellion. Now it has finally been pacified, which has made Zhu Yunwen breathe a long sigh. However, the old resentment has just passed away and new sorrows have come again. The death of Zhang Yi and the King of Shu was like a heavy blow, awakening Zhu Yunwen, who had just been immersed in the joy of victory.

Although Li Wei was presenting all kinds of evidence that it was done by Lan Yu's remnants, Zhu Yunwen still guessed that this was probably what Li Wei was trying to do, because the consequences were obvious. He captured Zhang Yi's 200,000 troops, and even large-scale cleanings were made in the army. All important military positions were replaced by people from the Liaodong Army. This was very clear.

In fact, when Li Weizheng went to Sichuan, Zhu Yunwen was worried about the consequences, so he issued a secret order to Zhang Yi, ordering him not to hand over military power to Li Weizheng no matter what. Zhang Yi did the same. After besieging Chengdu, he immediately sent people to Beijing to ask important officials of the court to solve the problem. Originally, Zhu Yunwen was going to send Qi Tai to Sichuan, but Qi Tai had just arrived in Fengyang, and Zhang Yi died and Lan Yucheng committed suicide spread to the capital.

Zhu Yunwen paced back and forth in the study with his hands behind his back. With the destruction of Lan Yu and the calmness of the King of Yan in the north, the imminent crisis disappeared. Li Weizheng's sitting tall was so clear that it suddenly appeared in front of him, making him restless. At this time, he thought of Huang Zicheng's warning. Li Weizheng was hiding a knife in his smile. His danger was far greater than that of Lan Yu. Lan Yu could only control one area, while Li Weizheng could control the overall situation, especially his military strength far exceeded that of the court. As long as he was willing, he could even overthrow the Ming Dynasty at any time.

"Your Majesty, they are here." An eunuch reported in a low voice at the door.

Zhu Yunwen was excited and hurriedly said, "Please invite them in."

After a moment, Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai and Fang Xiaoru walked into the study together. They bowed and said, "See Your Majesty!"

These three people are Zhu Yunwen's masters and are his most trusted confidants. Although there have been ups and downs in the past or two years, at the most critical moment, Zhu Yunwen will still rely on them. He quickly waved his hand and said, "No gift! Three dear friends, please sit down."

The three of them gave in a humble manner and sat down. Huang Zicheng gently stroked his long beard and said, "Your Majesty summoned us to the palace overnight, is it for Li Weizheng's business?"

He is very proud now and has obviously gained a psychological advantage. At that time, everyone said that Li Weizheng was loyal, but he firmly believed that Li Weizheng would cause trouble for the Ming Dynasty. For this reason, he even offended the emperor, but the facts proved that he was right. Now, the emperor thought of him the first time.

Zhu Yunwen sighed and said, "It is precisely for Li Weizheng's incident. When I think of him having nearly one million troops, I was frightened. Now the Ming Dynasty is as easy as taking things out of my pocket. Now that Lan Yu has been destroyed, it is urgent to solve his problem, so I invite three dear ministers to discuss countermeasures."

Seeing that Zhu Yunwen was indeed very anxious, Qi Tai advised: "Your Majesty, don't be too anxious. Although Li Weizheng is in danger, this danger will not break out for a while. I understand him. This person is very scheming and has great vision. He will never openly rebel like Lan Yu. My suggestion is to keep the status quo and then slowly plan for it."

"Mr. Qi seems to be speaking for Li Weizheng!" Huang Zicheng sneered, and he said sarcastically: "I still remember what Lord Qi said that day. With Li Weizheng's elite soldiers and generals coming to protect him, his heart became much more stable. Now that he has nearly one million troops looking at the Ming Dynasty, is Lord Qi's heart stable?"

Qi Tai snorted, "At this time, then, the elite Yan army troops heading south at that time. If Li Wei had not been annihilated the Yan army's vanguard in Fengyang, what would have been the situation now? Lord Huang could not have imagined? Besides, the actual situation is here. Liaodong is strong and the court is weak. If the emperor could not bear this tone, would he have to force him to kill someone and rebel?"

Huang Zicheng said angrily: "Let the emperor bear it, how long should he bear it? Should he bear it until everything is ready, and then stretch his neck to cut him?"

Qi Tai also retorted with a thick neck: "I didn't let the emperor do nothing. I just said to slowly draw it. Don't you understand?"

"Two my dear friends! Don't quarrel, both my dear friends. Don't mess up first."

Zhu Yunwen hurriedly persuaded the two of them. Seeing that Fang Xiaoru was still silent, he said to him: "Fang Aiqing, if you say you are familiar with Li Weizheng, the civil and military in the court cannot compare with you. Please tell me! What should I do now?"

Fang Xiaoru sighed slightly and said, "In Dingyuan County, Li Weizheng was just a minor official in the county. I advised the prince not to use him, but the prince said that talent was rare and he refused to listen to me. Now it seems that he is indeed a talent, with nearly one million troops, which makes me sigh. I have been considering this matter for Your Majesty these days. Now Li Weizheng's bigotry has been done, and I can't touch him for a while. Just as Lord Qi said, this person is very scheming, and even Emperor Taizu was deceived by him. No one knows what he is thinking. If we act hastily, not only will we not be able to get rid of him, but we will give him an excuse. Therefore, my suggestion is like Lord Qi, and we should slowly move on and find his weakness before taking action."

Huang Zicheng wanted to say something else, but when Zhu Yunwen gave him a secret wink, he stopped talking. The three of them discussed tomorrow's court meeting and said goodbye.

Huang Zicheng walked around the outside and came back. Zhu Yunwen asked him to sit down and sighed: "Actually, my idea is to get rid of Li Weizheng sooner rather than later. The more you drag it back, the more beneficial it will be for him, so I want to listen to Huang Aiqing's good advice again."

Huang Zicheng was so excited when he heard that the emperor was willing to listen to his words, and said, "It is a blessing for my Ming Dynasty to see the crisis clearly. In fact, it is not as unsuccessful as Qi Tai and Fang Xiaoru said. I heard that several generals have recruited 200,000 troops in Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces. This is a good start. Moreover, although Li Weizheng has a large number of troops, his generals do not want to betray the court like him. On the contrary, many of his generals were originally generals of our court and loyal to the emperor. The emperor might as well start from here and divide and disintegrate them. Maybe his generals will lead their troops to surrender and the situation will be reversed immediately. What does Your Majesty think?"

Zhu Yunwen deeply agreed, and he sighed happily: "At the critical moment, Huang Aiqing's words are true!"
Chapter completed!