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In the past month or so, the new imperial envoy Wang Youlun has been extremely fed up.
Although it was still cold in spring, Wang Youlun had to drink more than ten bowls of herbal tea every day, but he still couldn't suppress the anger in his heart.
Back then, with the explicit or covert support of Emperor Deqing, the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, and the chief minister of the cabinet Zhou Shangjing, Wang Youlun was appointed as the imperial envoy by the imperial court. He succeeded the prince Zhu Heyu and was fully responsible for investigating the crimes of the vassal. It can be said that it has unlimited scenery and a bright future!
At that time, Wang Youlun was so complacent, thinking that as long as he could properly complete his court tasks, he would surely soar into the sky and become the next Zhao Junchen.
However, reality soon gave Wang Youlun a blow!
When he rushed to Luoyang City in excitement, he did not see the crown prince Zhu Heyu at all. Instead, he heard a shocking news - there was a bloody conflict between the crown prince Zhu Heyu and King Fu's lineage, and Zhu Heyu sent troops to suppress it. After the riot broke out, they forcibly imprisoned King Fu Zhu Citong, and even tortured several members of the clan!
As for Zhu Heyu himself, he quickly left for Huguang the day before Wang Youlun arrived in Luoyang City, and his whereabouts remain a mystery.
As a result, Wang Youlun could not see Zhu Heyu, and could not hand over power to Zhu Heyu. He could only stay in Luoyang City for a period of time, struggling to clean up the mess left by Zhu Heyu.
After Wang Youlun finally calmed down the chaos in Luoyang City, he finally received news about Zhu Heyu's whereabouts - Zhu Heyu was now in Xiangyang City.
So, Wang Youlun rushed to Xiangyang City at full speed and under the stars at night.
However, when Wang Youlun arrived at Xiangyang City, he found that Prince Zhu Heyu had left early again. Moreover, during the period when Prince Zhu Heyu was stationed in Xiangyang, he was not idle at all. Not only did he collect a large number of vassal crimes In order to obtain evidence, the Xiangyang government was even forced to seize all the property of the feudal sect involved in the case, and many related persons were also arrested.
After doing all this, Prince Zhu Heyu completely ignored the chaos that his actions caused to Xiangyang, and walked away again!
As a result, Wang Youlun had to stay in Xiangyang for a while again, hurriedly continuing to clean up the mess left by Prince Zhu Heyu.
After Wang Youlun finally cleaned up the mess in Xiangyang, he received news that Prince Zhu Heyu was currently waging war in Yuezhou Prefecture, so Wang Youlun hurriedly rushed to Yuezhou Prefecture.
As a result, Prince Zhu Heyu still left one step ahead of time, and repeated his old tricks again - collecting criminal evidence, seizing property, imprisoning relevant people, etc. - still leaving Wang Youlun a mess.
Next, the hide-and-seek game between Prince Zhu Heyu and Wang Youlun continues...
When Wang Youlun expertly cleaned up the mess in Yuezhou and chased him all the way to Changde, Prince Zhu Heyu had already left a mess in Changde Mansion and left early for Changsha...
When Wang Youlun cleaned up the mess in Changde over and over again and rushed to Changsha, he found that Prince Zhu Heyu had left another mess in Changsha and rushed to Hengzhou in advance...
As a result, a dramatic scene occurred, and this scene is destined to leave a strong mark in the history books, that is - in the entire Huguang territory, there were actually two imperial envoys at the same time, and these two imperial envoys also shouldered the responsibility of With the same court mission, a good show of chasing each other was staged.
The former imperial envoy was wandering around, avoiding people, and at the same time collecting evidence of the feudal clan's crimes, seizing the feudal clan's property, imprisoning relevant people, etc., while the latter imperial envoy was chasing after him all through the starry night, while he was being chased. He was forced to chase and stop, and kept wiping the butt of the previous imperial envoy!
After repeated cycles like this, Wang Youlun, who had always been deep-tempered and forbearing, finally exploded!
*
On this day, Wang Youlun arrived in Changsha, and officials from Changsha Prefecture and people from all walks of life also went out of the city to welcome him.
Seeing the crowd greeting him, Wang Youlun glanced around expressionlessly, but still did not see the figure of Crown Prince Zhu Heyu. He immediately guessed the general situation and felt that everything in front of him had a sense of déjà vu.
Next, without waiting for Changsha Magistrate He Youqi to report the specific situation to him, Wang Youlun waved his hand to interrupt and asked directly: "When did His Highness the Crown Prince leave Changsha City? How long did he stay in Changsha? What did he do? Things? What is the current situation in Changsha?"
Hearing Wang Youlun's barrage of questions, Changsha Magistrate He Youqi was slightly startled.
Just based on these inquiries from Wang Youlun, we know that Wang Youlun has a rough judgment on the current situation in Changsha City!
Then, He Youqi thought to himself: "As expected of the imperial envoy appointed by the imperial court, he has already guessed the current situation in Changsha before entering Changsha City or listening to our report. It is simply a miraculous calculation and a foresight! "
If Wang Youlun knew about He Youqi's extremely high opinion of himself at this time, he would probably be furious on the spot - God knows how much hardship and torment he had to endure to achieve such a "magical plan" and "ingenious plan" as he did today. "Unforgettable prophet"!
Fortunately, He Youqi did not say what he was thinking at this time, but quickly replied while thinking to himself: "For the information, Your Highness, the Imperial Envoy, His Highness the Prince left Changsha City yesterday afternoon. He stayed in Changsha City for about three days. time, during which he forced the Changsha government to seize the properties of various vassals, arrested several vassal cronies, and collected many personal and material evidence related to the vassal... In short, it caused a big scene movement!
Imperial Envoy, you also know that Changsha is the fiefdom of His Highness Prince Ji. Naturally, His Highness Prince Ji would not watch His Highness the Crown Prince do this, so he stepped forward to dissuade His Highness the Crown Prince. Who would have thought that this meeting would turn into a dispute? A fierce quarrel... In the end, because of this quarrel, King Ji was so angry that he became seriously ill and is still in bed recuperating, so he did not come forward to greet the imperial envoy!
When His Royal Highness the Prince left Changsha, he did not disclose his whereabouts to the official, but judging from the direction of his trip, he should have gone to Hengzhou! "
Hearing He Youqi's report, Wang Youlun couldn't help but laugh angrily, gritted his teeth and said: "Okay! That's great! In just three days, so many things have been accomplished. You are really well prepared and resolute!"
Our Prince, His Majesty, is truly unparalleled in courage! In Luoyang, he imprisoned King Fu and tortured the vassal! In Xiangyang, he angrily rebuked King Xiangyang and captured the eldest son of King Xiangyang! In Changsha, King Ji got angry again! ...Next, if he goes to Hengzhou, I am afraid that the lineage of King Gui of Hengzhou will also be in trouble...
Ha ha! Ha ha! Your Highness, Your Highness, I was not as courageous as you originally, and I did not want to completely offend you, but now you force me! "
Having said this, Wang Youlun suppressed his anger for more than a month, and finally burst out completely!
He's had enough of having to chase Zhu Heyu! I'm fed up with having to wipe Zhu Heyu's butt all the time!
Therefore, Wang Youlun loudly issued an order on the spot: "Immediately, send all the fast horse messengers, in the name of this imperial envoy, to pass orders to all prefectures, states, and counties in Huguang, telling all local officials that Prince Zhu Heyu is now He has been removed from the post of imperial envoy by the imperial court and has been replaced by this imperial envoy!
The prince's actions are by no means on behalf of the court and His Majesty, but are just his own personal actions! After officials from all over the country received the news, they all refused to obey the prince's orders. Once they saw the prince's whereabouts, they would immediately send people to stop him. The prince must be detained locally. If the prince did not obey, even if he sent troops to besiege him, No matter what!
I am a real imperial minister, acting on behalf of the emperor! My orders represent the attitude of the court and His Majesty. If any local official disobeys the order and still allows the prince to act recklessly, he will be punished for disobeying the holy order! "
After saying these orders, Wang Youlun felt that the anger in his heart had finally vented some!
On the other side, He Youqi was immediately startled when he heard Wang Youlun's order!
It was enough to publicly declare that Prince Zhu Heyu had been removed from the imperial envoy position by the imperial court. In this case, although Prince Zhu Heyu did not look good, he could not find fault... But Wang Youlun actually publicly accused Prince Zhu Heyu of being reckless. Acting on your own and acting recklessly is a serious matter!
Not to mention, Wang Youlun also ordered local officials to intercept the whereabouts of Crown Prince Zhu Heyu by all means, and even send troops to besiege them if necessary... Once this happens, it will mean that Wang Youlun and Zhu are He and Yu are completely at odds with each other!
"This...how is this possible..."
He Youqi looked panicked and said stumblingly.
Before the crown prince was deposed, Zhu Heyu was still the crown prince. He Youqi only felt that Wang Youlun's approach was excessive.
However, in Wang Youlun's eyes, Prince Zhu Heyu's repeated teasing of him during this period was even more excessive, and he was just repaying retaliation!
In fact, Wang Youlun was also forced to panic. He originally did not want to completely break up with the prince Zhu Heyu, otherwise he would not have endured it until today.
But to this day, if he still indulges Zhu Heyu, the cycle of chasing and wiping his butt will continue!
In this way, by the time this hide-and-seek game is finally over, everything will be settled!
This also means that when Wang Youlun served as the imperial envoy, he accomplished almost nothing except chasing and wiping his butt. This situation will inevitably affect the evaluation of Emperor Deqing and the seventh prince Zhu Heyu, and his future career will be profound. Affected.
Although Wang Youlun himself was more loyal to Zhou Shangjing, Zhou Shangjing had already told him that he could do whatever he wanted during his tenure as the Imperial Envoy without worrying about other things.
Therefore, Wang Youlun has made up his mind that even if he completely falls out with Crown Prince Zhu Heyu, he must end it all!
At this time, hearing He Youqi's hesitation, Wang Youlun immediately looked coldly and asked in a cold voice: "What? Governor He wants to take the lead in disobeying the order? That's okay, I just want to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys at this time!"
He Youqi was immediately startled again, and said quickly: "I don't dare! I definitely don't dare! Please rest assured, your Majesty the Imperial Envoy, I will immediately send all the fast horse messengers to convey the Imperial Envoy's orders to the governments around Huguang!"
Seeing He Youqi's submission, Wang Youlun snorted lightly, but said nothing more and just rode his horse to take the lead towards Changsha City.
Wang Youlun has no good impression of He Youqi!
After cleaning up the mess for Prince Zhu Heyu many times, Wang Youlun had long understood that these local officials were all associates of Prince Zhu Heyu, and they were teasing him together!
For Zhu Heyu, local officials were seemingly forced to obey orders, but in fact they actively cooperated and took the initiative!
Otherwise, even if Prince Zhu Heyu was fully prepared and collected detailed information in advance, there would be no way that he would be able to do things so quickly and smoothly?
Taking the situation in Changsha as an example, it only took Prince Zhu and Yu about three days to successfully complete the tasks of sealing up the vassal property, arresting the people involved, collecting relevant evidence, etc., but these things are by no means simple. It can be done in a single step, but if local officials deliberately delay it, let alone three days, it may not be done even in three years!
However, during this period of time, whenever Prince Zhu and Yu visited the same place, they did all these things in one go without any hindrance. It was obviously because of the secret and active cooperation of local officials!
And the attitude of local officials must be inseparable from the two masterminds behind Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen!
Just because he understood all this, Wang Youlun naturally disliked He Youqi, but he could only endure it.
For Wang Youlun, the current top priority is to go to Changsha City and continue to clean up the mess for Prince Zhu Heyu!
*
Just like Wang Youlun's speculation, Prince Zhu Heyu has been having a smooth schedule and doing things smoothly during this period.
This situation is not only because Henan Governor Zhang Bozhen has collected detailed information in advance, and when Prince Zhu Heyu investigates, he only needs to follow the map to find out. It is also not only because Prince Zhu Heyu has collected a lot of information from Prince Fu's Mansion. With the collection of conclusive evidence, the vassals from all over the country were unable to refute, and this was all because of the active cooperation and positive performance of officials from all over the country.
After all, Zhou Shangjing's influence is deeply rooted. Zhao Junchen also took advantage of the opportunity of establishing the "United Shipping Company" to win over a large number of local forces along the Yangtze River. With the secret assistance of the two of them, Zhu Heyu was naturally a resistance when doing things. Big savings!
This time, when Prince Zhu Heyu left Changsha and arrived in Hengzhou City, the situation was still the same at the beginning.
Because the conclusive evidence that Zhu Heyu collected from Prince Fu's palace could prove that King Gui's line and King Fu's line had been secretly colluding and committing various crimes for many years, King Gui Zhu Ciren was unable to refute it.
And because of the detailed information Zhu Heyu received from Zhang Bozhen, the governor of Henan, he quickly successfully collected a batch of relevant personal and material evidence. Many old cases that had been backlogged for many years were also uncovered, further solidifying the relationship between King Gui and his family. crimes since then.
Coupled with the active cooperation of some local officials in Hengzhou, Zhu Heyu's actions of seizing the vassal property and arresting relevant persons went smoothly.
However, when Zhu Heyu finished all these things and was about to leave Hengzhou City as quickly as before and leave the mess to Wang Youlun, something unexpected happened!
Li Cheng, the prefect of Hengzhou who had been working happily with Zhu Heyu in the past few days, suddenly led the Hengzhou garrison to surround Zhu Heyu's temporary residence, forcibly prevented Zhu Heyu and others from leaving, and then visited Zhu in person. and 堉.
After seeing Zhu Heyu, Li Cheng smiled bitterly and said: "Your Highness the Crown Prince, I have just received an order from the new Imperial Envoy, Mr. Wang Youlun, requesting the Hengzhou government to stop His Highness the Crown Prince and never let you leave this place... The imperial court The imperial envoy acts on behalf of the world, and the subordinates dare not disobey, so they have no choice but to offend you!"
After hearing Li Cheng's explanation, Prince Zhu Heyu was not surprised at all and accepted it all calmly!
In fact, Zhu Heyu still has some of his former integrity and uprightness in his heart, so he also believes that his actions during this period are really not up to Wang Youlun.
Zhu Heyu didn't hate Wang Youlun for doing this, and was even a little surprised that Wang Youlun could endure it until now before taking action to stop him.
After lightly nodding, Prince Zhu Heyu turned to Li Chuanwen beside him and said, "It seems that we must return to the center of the capital."
Li Chuanwen remained calm at this time and replied: "To this day, all the evidence of the vassal crimes collected by His Royal Highness are conclusive, and the vassals involved in the case have no chance to reverse the case...
Under such circumstances, there is no need for us to continue taking action. It would not be a bad thing to take the opportunity to return to the capital center!
Your Highness, the battle between you and the vassals from all over the world has lasted for more than three months, and it should come to an end! "
On the other side, Xiao Wenxuan also said: "The most important thing is that as long as His Highness the Crown Prince hands over all the conclusive evidence to the court center, he can win this battle!
At that time, no one can criticize His Highness the Crown Prince for killing the royal relatives and bullying the vassals. At most, they will only think that His Highness the Crown Prince did something a little too extreme! But overall, the merits still outweigh the faults, and the situation faced by His Royal Highness will be much better in the future!
On the contrary, if His Highness the Crown Prince had not made a decisive decision at the first opportunity, he would not have been able to end this fight personally, and he would have only received more doubts and criticism! Therefore, although our various practices during this period may cause controversy, they are all worth it! "
Prince Zhu Heyu nodded slightly again and said: "Thanks to these two gentlemen for their suggestions and active assistance! I will definitely repay the kindness of these two gentlemen in the future!"
After saying that, Prince Zhu Heyu looked at Hengzhou Magistrate Li Cheng again and asked: "The order from the Imperial Envoy King should only ask the Hengzhou government to stop me alone, right? Can the people around me leave?"
Li Cheng hesitated slightly and replied: "Your Highness, you must stay here, but the people around you can leave."
Zhu Heyu looked relieved, turned to look at Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan again, and said: "In this case, you two gentlemen should not stay here with me, so as not to cause more trouble."
After hearing what Prince Zhu Heyu said, Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan looked at each other without any pretense. After saluting Zhu Heyu together and saying goodbye, they left here side by side, planning to return to their respective rooms to pack their bags and leave as soon as possible. Hengzhou City, returned to the capital in advance to report the news to Zhao Junchen.
As Zhao Junchen's aides in the palace, they must leave early, otherwise Zhao Junchen will be caught.
But he said that as he watched the departing figures of Li Chuanwen and Xiao Wenxuan, Prince Zhu Heyu's eyes kept flickering, as if he was a little grateful and a little cold, but he didn't know what he was thinking in his heart at this time.
At the same time, Zhao Lei, the eunuch in charge of Prince Fu's Mansion, who was standing in the corner of the room, couldn't help but show excitement at this time.
After following Prince Zhu Heyu around for so long, he was finally able to go to the center of the capital.
After arriving at the center of the capital, Zhao Lei also had the opportunity to complete the instructions given by Zhu Hezeng, the eldest son of Prince Fu!
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I'm not in good shape today, I only have 5,500 words.
The next chapter will bring the plot back to the center of the capital.
Also, I will try to double update tomorrow, but I can’t guarantee the word count.
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