The initial search for the phoenix marrow was fruitless, so Lao Qian had no choice but to delay the process of obtaining this object again and settled down in the tent. In the next few days, he would go deep into the crater every day. In his conscious and high vigilance, although There was no danger of nearly capsizing the boat in the sewer like the first time, but we were not able to accurately figure out the rules of fireworks release, so as to achieve the purpose of this trip.
From the Jin Palace, Shen Wanjun didn't send any letters to urge him. Presumably, he knew how difficult it was to get the Phoenix Marrow, so it was useless to urge him.
As for Prince Feng's Mansion, whose face was disgraced by Zhu Mo's two swords and Xia Hougong's sword...
The imperial capital of Zhongzhou, in the imperial garden within the high walls of the imperial palace.
There is a pavilion, surrounded by water. In the crystal clear pool, brightly colored and fat koi fish swim quietly, as if they are afraid of disturbing the two middle-aged people in the pavilion by splashing the water.
These two middle-aged people are playing chess——
Throughout his life, he had the appearance of a dragon and phoenix eyes, was rich and handsome, wore a yellow robe, embroidered with gold dragons, and showed the majesty of an emperor in every gesture.
Second, he has a thin figure. Although his eyes are bright and energetic, his face is very old and exhausted. Every hair on his head is meticulously arranged by him. He always exudes a sense of righteousness. He has What he is wearing is the unified official uniform of Dayan. The only difference from other civilian official uniforms is that the spiritual object embroidered on it is a white unicorn!
The identity of the man wearing the dragon robe is immediately clear. He is Chu Houmin, the new emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty who has just ascended the throne.
Those in the Yan Dynasty who could have unicorns embroidered on their official uniforms were the best among the officials.
If he is a military general and has a golden unicorn embroidered on his official uniform, then he is a super first-class being and should be a king with different surnames in Kyushu.
If he is a civil servant and has a white unicorn embroidered on his official uniform, he is also a first-rate being and should be the Prime Minister of the country!
That's right.
The person who is playing chess with the emperor on an equal footing is Qi Xingzhi, the prime minister of the Yan Dynasty who served two emperors in succession.
During the war in the early years, Qi Xingzhi was a dynasty minister of the same batch as Shen Wanjun and other nine kings of Jiuzhou. In the cruel battles of blood and fire, he won victory for Dayan with his top-notch ingenuity that was superior to all the enemy's advisers. Countless victories.
From then on, after the world was at peace, he was appointed by the late emperor as the first civil official and the prime minister of the country.
The most noteworthy thing is that before his death, the late emperor called the then crown prince Chu Houmin to his bedside alone to give his last instructions.
One of the instructions was to warn Chu Houmin that if there was any undecision regarding state affairs in the future, they should take the advice of Prime Minister Qi Xingzhi as the final decision. Even if the nine kings of Kyushu disagreed, they still had to show their imperial majesty and forcefully dictatorship.
At that time, Chu Houmin had not worked with Qi Xingzhi many times, and he did not understand why his father valued this prime minister so highly.
But as he gradually got to know Qi Xingzhi better after he ascended the throne, Chu Houmin finally understood his father's good intentions.
Because there are two ways of being a counselor, one is yin and the other is yang. Even if one practices both ways, one cannot avoid suppressing the other.
Qi Xingzhi, on the other hand, only cultivated conspiracy. He always regarded the conspiracy as a small thing and disdained it.
To put it simply, every plan Qi Xingzhi makes is extremely upright, he uses his true wisdom to defeat you, and strives to reduce innocent casualties in the game between both parties. He is a wise man who truly cares about the world.
This kind of person will never feel resentful because he holds great power.
Therefore, the late emperor said that Chu Houmin should feel free to use Qi Xingzhi and listen to Qi Xingzhi's advice. Even if they achieve nothing, they will definitely not harm the Chu family or Dayan.
If someone who is well versed in the art of Go is present, it is not difficult to see that the game between Chu Houmin and Qi Xingzhi seems particularly careless at this time.
The two of them don't seem to be pursuing victory or defeat, but rather they are passing the time with this game of chess. Neither of their moves is overly offensive. It's just that you send one pawn forward and I send another pawn to block it. Pawns and pawns, generals and generals, each group of battles are of similar strength, entangled with each other, and difficult to distinguish.
"I have a letter here, and I would like to ask the Prime Minister to read it."
Halfway through the chess game, Chu Houmin, who had remained silent, finally spoke, and pushed the letter he had kept at hand to Qi Xingzhi.
Qi Xingzhi responded respectfully and took the envelope away with both hands. After opening it, he held it with one hand. With the other hand, he was concentrating on his other half and did not waste time playing chess with Chu Houmin.
After a while, I finished reading.
Qi Xingzhi returned the letter intact to Chu Houmin.
Chu Houmin smiled slightly, stopped playing, leaned back on the dragon chair, looked at Qi Xingzhi and asked:
"I wonder what Xiangguo thinks?"
Qi Xingzhi made it clear what he was thinking.
"Although in the letter Prince Xue only briefly mentioned the drunkenness of his soldiers in the camp, judging from the behavior of the Shen family army, especially the Sixiang camp, Zheng Yu and Cao Jing must have gone too far. , Otherwise, no matter how domineering and arrogant King Jin’s men are, they will not act rashly and kill two people without sufficient legal principles."
Chu Houmin nodded in agreement.
"That's why Prince Feng didn't ask me to strictly deal with the chief and deputy generals of the White Tiger Camp."
Qi Xingzhi nodded with a smile.
"Exactly."
Chu Houmin asked again.
"In the opinion of the Prime Minister, is this good or bad for me, Dayan?"
"Pros and cons."
It's not that Qi Xingzhi's answer was conservative, but he actually had a reasonable consideration.
"The advantage is that since the time of the late Emperor, he did not want to see the situation where the nine kings of the Nine Provinces were on good terms with each other. After all, the nine kings each focused on supporting troops and almost controlled nearly 90% of the entire Great Yan's military strength. If two of them were If the three of them secretly form a secret alliance and intend to bring trouble to the world, then the status of the Great Yan Emperor will be fatally threatened."
"So it's not just King Feng and King Jin, but the other seven kings are also included. The more they fight behind their backs, the more beneficial it will be to our Great Yan royal family. Of course, this also requires the royal family to mediate and reduce the level of fighting. It must be controlled at a stable point, otherwise once the king loses his mind and mobilizes his troops to fight, even if it cannot mess up the overall situation, it will inevitably lead to heavy losses for me, Dayan."
After listening, Chu Houmin asked tentatively.
"What the Prime Minister means is that I should agree to King Feng's request for reconciliation?"
Qi Xingzhi pondered for a moment, then shook his head resolutely.
"No."
"It's a disadvantage for three reasons."
"First, the Shen Family Army's Four Elephant Battalions are divided into the southeast and northwest to cooperate with the kings of different surnames in the state to guard the border. This is the order of the late emperor. The late emperor just passed away. If the emperor changes the order of the late emperor just because of such a trivial matter, it will inevitably be behind the back of some petty people. They are talking nonsense, saying that the emperor is self-righteous and thought that he was more resourceful than the late emperor as soon as he took power."
"Secondly, the Sixiang Camp has been guarding the four major borders for a long time, and the power of the 800,000 Shen family troops has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Moving the Baihu Camp away from the Chifeng Mountains will definitely make the nearby people panic and worry about King Feng all day long. The garrison of the soldiers under my command was unfavorable, which caused the Xisha army to enter the Great Yan again and cause disaster."
"The third and most important point is."
"No matter whether King Jin has even a little bit of rebellious intentions, he must try not to let the Sixiang Camp reunite in Jinzhou. This is an iron-blooded army that no one can defeat in the world today, and it is also the sharpest weapon in King Jin's hands. A sword."
"If King Jin had this sword in his hand... Your Majesty would have trouble sleeping at night again."
