The palace of the Han Dynasty was devoured by fire overnight, and the whole family of King Zhu Youxu of Han was killed. This news was like a bolt from the blue, and the sky in Shandong suddenly exploded.
In just a few days, all the vassal kings in Shandong were horrified.
Since Liu Yan began to rectify the guards and guards in various places, he has successively transferred the new troops stationed in various places back to Jinan Prefecture. As the "basic base" of Qinglai Town, Qingzhou Prefecture has made the fastest progress in reorganizing the guards and guards. Quickly, except for the guards of the King of Han and other vassal kings, the rest of the troops and horses have basically been sorted out.
It stands to reason that the new army camp stationed in Qingzhou Prefecture should also go to Jinan Fucheng to station, but there has been no movement, which makes everyone suspicious.
In addition, the soldiers and horses of the New Army's Central Battalion put out the fire all night, but Hanwang's family was still buried in the flames. Even the arson suspect who was later caught was burned to death inexplicably. This is very intriguing.
The vassal kings from all over Shandong were all shocked when they heard the news. Everyone knew that the matter was probably related to Liu Yan, but they were helpless. Apart from roaring angrily in their own palaces, they could do nothing and did not dare to do anything.
Jinan Fucheng, Prince De's Mansion.
When Zhu Youshu learned of the death of the King of Han's family, he was so frightened that he closed the door and thanked guests for many days. He stayed in the Buddhist hall in the palace all day, with more than a dozen guards guarding the surroundings day and night.
"Deploy more patrols and don't let suspicious people get even half a step closer to the palace!"
"yes."
Zhu Youshu's eyes could already see dark circles, and he couldn't figure out why Hanwang's family suffered such a disaster.
"Did Liu Yan really do this? How dare he do this? He is the vassal king!"
In the Buddhist hall, an old monk was knocking on wooden fish.
The sound of chanting sutras echoed in the room with a unique rhythm, but it could not calm the fear and anxiety in Zhu Youshu's heart.
"Yes! Why doesn't he dare?"
Zhu Youshu smiled bitterly: "Liu Yan has tens of thousands of elites in the new army. Now as the reorganization of troops and horses in various places is coming to an end, tens of thousands more elites are about to be trained. The entire Shandong has been regarded as Liu. What else does he not dare to do? !”
Thinking of this, Zhu Youshu was worried about the safety of his family. After thinking about it, he called his servant and said: "Immediately post a message, I want to entertain Liu Duchen at a banquet!"
"My lord, tonight?"
"Tonight, go right away!"
"yes!"
At nightfall, Liu Yan, escorted by Miao Shao and his troops, arrived at Prince De's Mansion. In the flower hall, a table full of fine food and wine was already placed. Prince De King Zhu Youshu greeted Liu Yan to the table with a smile on his face.
On the side of the flower hall, there was actually a beautiful woman playing music, which surprised Liu Yan.
"Your Highness, what do you mean by this? Is today a good day?"
"Haha, of course not."
Zhu Youshu personally picked up the jug and poured wine for Liu Yan. Even Miao Shao had a seat. Seeing Zhu Youshu coming to pour wine for him, Miao Shao awkwardly stepped forward to take the jug and poured himself a glass.
"I haven't seen my governor for a long time, and I miss him very much, so I asked my governor to come over and talk about old times."
Liu Yan was amused. A few days ago, they had been in contact with each other because of the matter of rectifying the feudal king's guards. What does it mean that they haven't seen each other for a long time?
"In this case, the governor will have a few more drinks with His Highness. However, His Highness should not talk about tonight's matter everywhere. The matter of the Hanwang family is not over yet. If word spreads like this, it will not be good for His Highness's reputation. "
Mention the King of Han
, Zhu Youshu was shocked, and then said with a bitter face: "Master Governor, I am frightened at this point. You said that the Hanwang family is in good condition, why did it suddenly catch fire?"
Liu Yan said: "Life and death are determined by destiny, wealth and honor are in heaven. This is destiny, and no one can do anything about it!"
"Yes, yes."
Zhu Youshu picked up the wine glass and toasted Liu Yan, and then said: "It's just that the vassal kings everywhere are probably panic-stricken now, the court will be shaken, and the Holy Emperor will be furious."
Liu Yan said: "Your Highness, don't worry, I have my governor in charge of Shandong. As long as the vassal kings from all over the country abide by the rules, I will ensure that they are prosperous and wealthy, and their lives are safe!"
rule? Whose rules?
Zhu Youshu knew it well, and could only smile and nod at this time, indicating that he must abide by the rules.
"As for the imperial court and the Holy Emperor, I have handed over the apology letter today. I will bear the punishment myself if there is any punishment."
"The governor is responsible and I admire him. Come, let's drink this cup!"
Late at night, Liu Yan and Miao Shao came out of Prince De's Mansion. Miao Shao asked, "Master Governor, what does Prince De mean? This drink is just for the sake of making excuses?"
"King De is worried that he will become the next King of Han, so tonight he is showing his attitude and surrendering to the governor."
"Haha, I guess he sees the opportunity quickly."
Liu Yan got on his horse and drank a lot of Shaoguo wine. Coupled with the extremely hot late night in summer, he was already sweating profusely.
"I don't know what the situation is at the imperial court now. Once I hand over this apology document, what decision will Hong Chengchou and the Holy Lord make?"
Miao Shao also got on his horse and looked around to see that there were no outsiders. They were all generals from the personal guard camp.
The soldier then rode his horse closer and said in a low voice: "Taking down the King of Han this time will cause too much noise. I'm afraid it won't be easy for the capital to end."
Liu Yan nodded and said: "Although the matter is like this, I expect that the Holy One is still wise and will not do anything without evidence."
Then Liu Yan added: "At least for this town, that's the case."
A few days later, Beijing City.
The news of the death of the King of Han's family was reported separately by Wang Congyi, the prefect of Qingzhou, Liu Yan, the governor of Shandong, and Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong. Their memorials were delivered to the capital almost on the same day.
Immediately afterwards, memorials from vassal kings from all over Shandong were also sent to the capital one after another, bringing horrific news: The King of Han's family was killed by Liu Yan!
This news swept the entire capital in just one day. The government and the public were stunned by it, and Emperor Chongzhen was even more furious.
Hong Chengchou, the chief minister of the cabinet, was also dizzy and anxious by the news. He hurried to the palace. When he saw Emperor Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen was furious in the imperial study. All the files and memorials on the imperial desk were destroyed by the angry Chongzhen. Emperor pushed him to the ground.
"Rebellion, rebellion!"
"Hong Chengchou! Immediately mobilize the elites from the nine sides and go south. I want you to lead the army to capture Liu Yan immediately and bring him to Beijing to hand over to the Three Laws Division for discussion!"
Hong Chengchou grimaced, looked at Chen Xinjia, the Minister of War, who had arrived one step ahead, and then said: "Your Majesty, be careful! The King of Han's family was killed. The official explanation now is that thieves set the fire, which has nothing to do with Liu Yan. Your Majesty must not be angry. Raise troops!"
"Where is the thief who set the fire? He was burned to death for no apparent reason the next day. That was Liu Yan who was cleaning up.
Endgame, I am not a fool, this is the crime of deceiving the emperor! "
Hong Chengchou knelt directly on the ground and said, "Your Majesty! So what? The top priority of the court now is to mobilize troops to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng as soon as possible, and at the same time strengthen the defense of Liaodong, rather than ignite a war in Shandong!"
Chen Xinjia also hurriedly knelt on the ground and said: "What Mr. Ge said is true. The dispute between Liu Yan and the King of Han is just a trivial matter. Even if the King of Han dies, he cannot force Liu Yan to rebel. Now he has hundreds of thousands of elites in his hands." Army! If the imperial court wants to encircle and suppress Liu Yan, it is impossible without an army of hundreds of thousands. It is impossible to fight!"
"Then mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops for me! If Liu Yan dares to kill the vassal king today, he will dare to attack Beijing tomorrow!"
Chen Xinjia was almost crying and said: "May I ask Your Majesty, if hundreds of thousands of troops are really mobilized to fight against Liu Yan, where will the money and food come from? Do Jiubian, Gyeonggi and the Central Plains provinces still need it? Is it to compete with Liu Yan? With a moment of anger, the whole world will be plunged into eternal catastrophe!"
Emperor Chongzhen was out of breath at this time, his chest was heaving violently, his face was pale, and he was trembling uncontrollably.
Seeing this, Wang Chengen on the side hurriedly stepped forward to help him, and helped Emperor Chongzhen to the big pear chair behind the desk.
Upon seeing this, Hong Chengchou hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, Liu Yan is now submitting a memorial to plead guilty on the grounds that the rescue was ineffective. If Your Majesty cannot swallow this breath, you can use this as an excuse to severely punish Liu Yan."
"Right now, the imperial court has no evidence to prove that Liu Yan killed the King of Han. The imperial court cannot raise troops, and your majesty cannot punish him. This is the only way!"
Emperor Chongzhen gasped, closed his eyes, and two lines of tears instantly flowed from the corners of his eyes: "I think of Liu Yan's many times
After defeating the Qing army, the Battle of Julu, the Battle of Jinan, the Battle of Jinzhou, and then the Battle of Kaifeng, with great victories one after another, I thought the country had a general who could turn the tide, and I thought Liu Yan was it. The current Guo Ziyi! But who could have known that Liu Yan was the current Cao Cao! "
Hong Chengchou sighed and said to himself: "Of course Liu Yan is not Guo Ziyi, but your Majesty is not Tang Xuanzong either!"
Chen Xinjia said: "Your Majesty, the most important thing right now is that the court should punish Liu Yan, take full responsibility for his failure to rescue him, and end the death of the King of Han as soon as possible to avoid turmoil and unrest between the government and the public."
Now Chen Xinjia is most worried about the Donglin Party members in the court. Whenever something big happens, Yushi Yanguan and the so-called Qingliu who are from the Donglin Party will stand up and jump up and down like mad dogs. They will not give up until the situation is completely disrupted. , no one is there to solve problems or stabilize the situation, they are all troublemakers!
Hong Chengchou did the same and said: "Your Majesty, if the affairs of the Han Dynasty are caught by the imperial censor, the situation will get out of control. How will Liu Yan be stabilized by then? The imperial court will not have the energy to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng. Just now The situation that was improving will begin to deteriorate again!”
Emperor Chongzhen opened his eyes, looked at Hong Chengchou and Chen Xinjia with red eyes, and asked: "How to punish Liu Yan?"
The two of them were also in trouble. The punishment was heavy, and they were worried that Liu Yan would be angry and cause trouble again. The punishment was light, and Emperor Chongzhen could not agree.
Seeing that both of them were silent, Emperor Chongzhen gritted his teeth and said, "My plan: Governor Liu Yan of Shandong Province failed to rescue the vassal king, which resulted in the death of the King of Han's family at the hands of traitors. Later, he failed to guard the prisoners, resulting in the death of the king of Han Dynasty."
The crime of causing all the criminals to die in misfortune is not a small one, so I am reprimanding them and imposing a five-year fine..."
Having said this, Emperor Chongzhen hesitated for a long time before continuing: "I admire this!"
Hong Chengchou and Chen Xinjia breathed a sigh of relief. The matter with the King of Han could come to an end.
Emperor Chongzhen then said: "The elder Ge wants to warn Liu Yan and tell Liu Yan that Shandong is the Shandong of the Ming Dynasty. If he cannot guard the place, I will never tolerate him again!"
"My lord, take the order!"
After Hong Chengchou and Chen Xinjia left the palace, they looked at each other and smiled bitterly, then got on Hong Chengchou's carriage together.
"Mr. Ge, Liu Yan is now so powerful that the imperial court is basically unable to suppress him. What should we do in the future?"
Hong Chengchou sighed and said: "Let's take it one step at a time. The most important thing right now is to recruit elite soldiers from each town to go south as soon as possible to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng's troops as soon as possible."
"In my opinion, Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu, and Li Fuming should be recruited, plus Tang Tong, Ma Ke, and Cao Bianjiao."
Chen Xinjia asked: "With so many general soldiers, who will lead them?"
"Shaanxi Governor Sun Chuanting!"
"he?"
Chen Xinjia shook his head and said, "Isn't he qualified enough? Can those arrogant generals obey Sun Chuanting's command?"
Hong Chengchou thought for a while and said: "Then I will go to see the saint another day and ask Sun Chuanting for the Shangfang Sword."
"Why does Mr. Ge value Sun Chuanting so much? Is it because he is good at fighting?"
Hong Chengchou said: "This is just one of them. Now, the court must support someone who can check and balance Liu Yan as soon as possible. Sun Chuanting is the most suitable candidate."
Chen Xinjia shook his head and said: "I think this is too difficult. Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu, Li Fuming, Tang Tong, Ma Ke
Among Cao Bianjiao and Cao Bianjiao, except for Tang Tong and Ma Ke, the other four have good relations with Liu Yan. Elder Ge should know this best. If Sun Chuanting leads them to fight against Li Zicheng's army, I think they will lose more than they win. "
Hong Chengchou looked solemn and said, "Then it all depends on God's will!"
