The city of Nanjing was filled with thick clouds.
The dull sound of thunder penetrated from the sky. Before the sound could reach the ground, another bolt of lightning struck. It was shining on a plaque on the red door, with four big characters written on it: 'Prince Jiankang's Mansion'.
The rain happened to be heavy at this time. A soaked messenger rode a black horse and arrived here in the rain. He immediately pulled the reins and rolled off the horse. He hurried to the palace and knocked on the door.
"Who?"
The messenger twisted his sleeves and shook his soap boots: "Go and report to Mr. Wan, he belongs to the prince!"
Wan Heshun, the king of Jiankang County, held a rusty spear and stared blankly at it shaking gently, making no sound for a long time. It wasn't until the bead curtain in front of him moved that he put down what he was holding and looked up.
"Young man, please see the prince." The messenger lowered his hands and bowed.
Wan Heshun smiled kindly and said: "Since you are someone close to the prince, how can I dare to accept such a courtesy from you? Sit down quickly."
The messenger gave in a few more times, but could not resist his good intentions, so he had to sit on his left side and talk to him across a table.
"The prince and I have never met, but he spared no effort and sent you to travel a long way from the capital. Why do you want to see me?" Wan Heshun pushed the tea bowl towards him.
The messenger smiled and replied: "I don't dare to hide this from the prince. Although I am from the prince's house, I am here under the orders of Chen Tongpao, the minister of official affairs, and he sent me here."
"Oh?" Wan Heshun showed a somewhat surprised expression, "Why do you, a subordinate of the crown prince, have to take orders from the officials?"
"Don't be anxious, I will tell you slowly. Chen Tongpao, Gao Jizhi and others are loyal ministers in the court. Seeing the decline of the Liu Party recently, they conspired with His Highness the Crown Prince to eliminate the traitors and make the Emperor When Liu Zhennian went south, Mr. Chen specially found His Highness and said that there would be many variables during this southern tour. Please send someone as a follower so that he can use the name of the prince to do things easily. So I followed him In a few days, it really came in handy.”
"Is there any proof?" Wan Heshun asked dubiously after hearing what he said eloquently.
"Of course!" the messenger responded, and immediately took out a piece of damp kraft paper from his arms. He first pulled out the letter wrapped in it, then turned the envelope upside down and shook it. A small seal fell on the table. . "This is written by the prince himself and addressed to Mr. Chen. This is the seal stamped on it. The prince can verify it."
Wan Heshun twisted the letter and compared the imprint with the things on hand. He found that the size and text were the same, and there were no differences. Only then did he become convinced, nodded and said, "Tell me, what did you ask me to do!"
The messenger still smiled: "My lord, what you said is wrong. Who dares to order you except the emperor? Today is nothing more than the word 'please'. If the lord is worried and unwilling to help, then the villain will go back immediately. Anyway, come here He disappeared without a trace, pretending that this incident never happened."
"Well..." Wan Heshun squeezed the gun in his hand so hard that a large piece of rust fell off and dyed the whole finger black, but he didn't seem to notice.
After thinking hard for a while, Wan Heshun suddenly stared, frowned, immediately rolled up his sleeves and stood up, slapped his hand on the table, turned his head, looked at the messenger steadily and said : "Did you know? This spear was given by the emperor back then. Even though it is rusty, dusty, and looks inconspicuous, I have always regarded it as a great favor from the emperor, and I pay attention to it every day. You must salute and bow to it and never forget it. The royal family is in trouble today and traitors are rampant. For the sake of the country and the country, I should die to repay my kindness. It is my duty to do so!"
After listening to his impassioned words, the messenger couldn't help but look at him with admiration: "The adults have a noble heart, which is difficult for the villains to match! Then I will tell you, Mr. Chen would like to ask you to lead troops to Wuchang and reach the Yangtze River, it is enough to use military force to frighten the Liu Party."
"This is not easy!" Wan Heshun straightened his body, sneered, and immediately waved his hand to call his confidants, "You, quickly pass the order to the generals of each battalion, asking them to mobilize 10,000 men and horses tomorrow, and follow me to Hubei; as for the south Only 5,000 people are left to monitor Lu Fangxuan's journey, and he won't make any big noise."
Seeing that his confidant had accepted the order, Wan He turned around and asked the messenger, "The messenger has had a hard time coming all the way. I have chosen a place for you to live here. What do you think?"
"Then it's better to be respectful than to obey."
The two of them laughed and walked out of the house, but behind them, the tail end of the gun was hanging in the air, teetering on the edge, but no one cared.
Far away in Kaifeng, Niu Yuan's plan is still going smoothly. With the support of the Minister of Industry, he seemed to have received help from God and immediately ordered the arrest of officials involved in the ICBC embezzlement case. No one stopped him in the process. Just when the minister felt that everything was going smoothly, he suddenly received a bit of bad news: the minister of the Ministry of Industry who ordered Hu Chonglian was not among the patrol team, but stayed in the capital to handle the affairs of the ministry on behalf of the minister.
Niu Yuan regretted not being able to anticipate the current situation, but he quickly calmed down because he felt that this was just a small bump before victory. What would happen if he waited a few more days? So he sent his confidants back to Beijing to arrest people, and at the same time he went to comfort the Minister of Industry, telling him not to panic and to relax. After handling these official duties, Niu Yuan quickly forgot about the sudden irritability, went back to his dormitory and slept well all night, and didn't get up until early in the morning.
He washed his face, put on his official uniform, and strolled to the door of the Yamen. After accepting the salutes of all the Yamen servants, he stepped over the threshold with satisfaction, followed a paved stone road, and gradually ascended to the central hall.
He walked gently past the screen wall, thinking about asking the ministers about today's situation, but he raised his head and glanced towards the hall, and suddenly he was like a sculpture, frozen in place, motionless.
It turned out that the middle hall was already in chaos at this time. Officials no longer lined up and were running around. The people coming and going showed fear on their faces and even forgot to look at the road. As a result, there were many people who collided with each other.
Niu Yuan didn't understand what was going on here, and was about to find someone to ask. Unexpectedly, an official came from the side and bumped into his shoulder, knocking him staggering and almost falling to the ground.
"I'm sorry, Prime Minister..." He turned pale with fright, quickly dusted his sleeves and knelt down to say.
"What are you all suffering from? Just discuss important matters carefully. Why are you running around for no reason!" Niu Yuan suddenly changed his face.
"Feng Xiang, how should we discuss this matter? Prince Wanjun has already led an army of 10,000 troops to the Yangtze River!"
