Imperial envoys Mi Sihan and Xiong Cilu, as well as the third-class imperial guard Deng Zhong and his party, took Emperor Kangxi's imperial edict and came to Guangdong to handle the case of Prince Zhu III. Naturally, they did not dare to delay for a day. They took their servants with them and traveled under the stars and at night. It took them less than a month to complete the long journey of thousands of miles, and arrived in Guangzhou, as warm as summer, in late September of the 10th year of Kangxi's reign.
Mi Sihan, who was worshiped as the Minister of Household Affairs and the Minister of Political Affairs, was one of the leaders of the treacherous ministers in the court who advocated the abolition of the three vassals. Naturally, he would not be close to Shang Kexi, the king of Pingnan, one of the three vassals. However, his family and Xushun Duke's Mansion were family friends. When the old Xushun Duke Shen Zhixiang wanted to rebel against the Ming Dynasty and return to the Qing Dynasty, it was Mi Sihan's Amahashtun who ventured to Shicheng Island to appease Shen Zhixiang.
Later, Shen Zhixiang became Duke Xushun, and entered the Pass from Long. He gained great wealth, drank water and thought about his source, so he was naturally grateful to Hashitun, so the two families became family friends. The reason why Emperor Kangxi sent Mi Sihan to Guangdong as an imperial envoy was not only because he admired his insistence on reducing the vassal state, but also because of his family's long-term friendship with Duke Xushun.
Although Xushun Gongfu also guarded one side, he was not among the three vassals. The Chaozhou Prefecture he guarded was between the vassal lands of King Pingnan and King Jingnan. If you can firmly stand on the side of the imperial court, you can effectively isolate the communication between Shang and Geng.
If we can go one step further...for example, we can mobilize thousands of green soldiers loyal to the imperial court to enter Chaozhou Prefecture, and use them to replace Liu Jinzhong's troops, who are not very reliable. Then Chaozhou's flag soldiers and green camp soldiers would pose a threat to Shang and Geng. Maybe with the cooperation of other heavenly soldiers loyal to the imperial court, we can force Shang and Geng to surrender, and then the plan to abolish the three vassals will basically be completed.
Therefore, Mi Sihan, the imperial envoy who came back to Guangdong to handle the case of Prince Zhu III, was actually a clever move used by Kangxi to restrain Shang and Geng.
Of course, Emperor Kangxi would not openly tell Mi Sihan and Xiong Cilu how to control Shang Geng.
It's up to the two of them to understand this matter... If they can't understand it, then they are just idiots. Don't think about taking any further in the future, just sit on the bench!
Mi Sihan and Xiong Cilu were both smart people, so they traveled day and night without Kangxi's reminder, and the more than 4,000 miles of journey was completed in just 20 days. The whole journey was filled with light vehicles and simple people, and even the honor guards of the imperial envoys were far behind them. With only a hundred knights, he entered Guangzhou Mansion in a dusty state.
Jin Guangzu, Governor of Guangdong and Guangdong, and Yan Ziming, Admiral of Guangdong, learned that the imperial envoy had arrived and rushed to Guangzhou from their respective stations to greet the imperial envoy. Shang Shuying, the wife of Duke Xushun, also led her young prince Shen Rui to Guangzhou Mansion before the two imperial ministers under the protection of Zhang Mengji, another deputy governor of the palace.
As for Guangdong Governor Liu Bingquan, after receiving the notification from Shaozhou Prefecture, he personally went to Yingde to greet them and welcomed the two imperial envoys into Guangzhou Prefecture.
There is also a group of general soldiers and Taoist priests from Guangdong, as long as they are not caught up in military affairs, they all come to Guangzhou.
After staying one night in the governor's office in Guangzhou, on the eighth day of September, the two imperial envoys, Mi Sihan and Xiong Cilu, were guided by Liu Bingquan and went straight to Pingnan Prince's Mansion.
Pingnan King Shang Kexi had the softest bones among the three vassal kings. He did not dare to show the vassal king's genealogy in front of the two imperial envoys. Not only did he open the middle door of the palace to welcome him, but he also took dozens of sons out of the palace in person. A grand welcome to the imperial envoy.
Mi Sihan and Xiong Cilu were not here to deliver the edict to King Pingnan Shang Kexi, but they were here specifically for the case of the third prince Ban Zhu.
Therefore, there was no ceremony to receive the decree. After the monk Kexi exchanged a few pleasantries, the two of them were pulled one by one by Shang Kexi and dragged into the nine rooms of the main hall of the palace.
After the two imperial envoys sat down and finished serving tea, Shang Kexi smiled and said: "Thanks to the two imperial envoys, Quanzi just led the troops to raid the lair of the Third Prince Zhu in Danan Mountain, and also found evidence that could prove that the Third Prince Zhu The identity badge, gold seal, python robe, jade certificate and Emperor Chongzhen’s secret decree.”
"What? Did you copy the waist badge, gold seal, python robe, jade certificate and Emperor Chongzhen's imperial pen?" Mi Sihan looked surprised, "Have you checked it out?"
"Not yet," Shang Ke said with a smile, "I have already sent people to Chaozhou to call Quan Zixin to quickly send people to deliver those things... It was delayed for some reason, and it has not been delivered until today. "
Xiong Cilu smiled and said: "No hurry, no hurry... By the way, is Prince Zhu still in the capital of Guiyu now?"
"Still," Shang Kexi frowned, "but the capital city of Guiyu is very difficult to conquer. Deng Guangming and Liu Jinzhong mobilized more than two thousand people and have been fighting for a month, but it is still difficult to conquer."
He is not telling the truth now, because although the siege of Guiyu has lasted for more than a month, the "fight" was only carried out once. It was the time when Deng Guangming planned the empty city, and then he was besieged but not attacked. The two sides occasionally fought outside the moat of the capital of Guiyu... The result of the battle was without exception, the Qing army suffered a loss!
Shang Kexi also urged his son Shang Zhixin to help, but Shang Zhixin was determined to support the bandits and ignored his father's orders.
At the same time, Shang Kexi also received a secret report from outside the world that Zhu San’s grandson was engaged to Dahao Qiu Hui’s daughter!
Obviously, Qiu Hui is about to send troops to Guiyu!
The two thousand men of Deng Guangming and Liu Jinzhong couldn't deal with Qiu Hui's army... So Shang Kexi really looked forward to it day and night, hoping that the two imperial envoys Mi Sihan and Xiong Cilu would come to take charge of the overall situation.
Lest that boy Shang Zhixin continue to raise the bandits and raise and fatten the Third Prince Zhu!
Shang Kexi was about to talk to the two imperial envoys about the suppression of bandits when one of his nephews, Shang Zhibao, suddenly ran into the Nine Rooms Hall, shouting as he ran back: "The prince, the prince, and the prince are back!"
It's better to come early than to come by chance! Shang Kexi thought to himself: "Didn't this kid come here on the spot?"
"Quickly, let him come in to see the imperial envoy."
"嗻!"
Shang Zhibao responded and turned around, leading Shang Zhixin and Chaozhou Prefecture Magistrate Xue Zhang in hurriedly every moment. Neither of them was empty-handed, each had a plate. The plate held by Shang Zhixin contained a gold seal, a booklet and a scroll, while the plate held by Xue Zhang contained a python robe and a token.
"Answer me," Shang Kexi looked at his son and Xue Zhang each holding a plate. He didn't know what was going on, so he asked, "What are you and Magistrate Xue holding?"
"Amma," Shang Zhixin said with a smile, "that is the ironclad evidence that my son copied from the thieves' nest in Danan Mountain...it can prove that the Heavenly King Zhu is the Third Prince Zhu!"
"Iron proof?" Monk Mi Sihan, who was very familiar with the letter, asked with a smile, "My lord, what exactly did you capture in Danan Mountain?"
Shang Zhixin placed the plate he was holding on the table in front of Shang Kexi, then took Xue Zhang's plate and placed it as well. At the same time, he turned his eyes and took in all the people crowded into the nine halls today - very good! A lot of things that should come and things that shouldn't come come!
He picked up the python robe with a smile, unfolded it and placed it on the table, and said with a smile: "This is the python robe of Prince Zhu."
Then he picked up the waist badge and handed it to Mi Sihan himself, "Look at this...waist badge!"
Mi Sihan took it and said, "Oh, let's take a look, it looks real!"
Shang Zhixin then picked up the jade certificate and gave it to Xiong Cilu, "Xiong Hanlin, you are very knowledgeable. Can you see if this jade certificate is authentic?"
Before leaving Beijing, Xiong Cilu had seen the jade certificate of Prince Zhu San hidden in the Qing Palace. Now he unfolded the jade certificate handed over by Shang Zhixin and looked at it. He immediately beamed with joy, "It's true! It belongs to the prince of the Ming Dynasty." The jade certificates are all made in triplicate, and there is another jade certificate of Zhu Cijiong hidden in the palace, and the content on it is exactly the same as this one!"
"And this!" Shang Zhixin picked up the scroll and unfolded it mysteriously to show it to Xiong Cilu, "Whose handwriting is this?"
"This...is Chongzhen's handwriting!" Of course Xiong Cilu had seen a lot of Chongzhen's handwriting before leaving Beijing! Now at first glance, I feel that the handwriting on the imperial edict that Shang Zhixin took out is very similar to that of Chongzhen's imperial pen.
Of course, to be completely sure, you have to compare it with other Chongzhen imperial brushes.
Xiong Cilu then asked casually: "Answer me, is this the edict given by Emperor Chongzhen to Zhu Cijiong?"
"No, it's not for Zhu Cijiong." Shang Zhixin shook his head, and then looked like he was hesitant to speak.
"Who is it for?" Shang Kexi asked again.
"In reply to Amma," Shang Zhixin deliberately raised his voice, "this was written by Emperor Chongzhen to Wu Sangui, the then Ming Dynasty's Ping Xibo and Liaodong Commander-in-Chief, before the city of Beijing was destroyed!"
"What?"
"For Wu Sangui?"
"Why is it in the hands of Prince Zhu?"
Shang Kexi, Mi Sihan, and Xiong Cilu all felt that something was wrong.
Of course, Shang Zhixin would not give them time to react, and then said loudly: "Emperor Chongzhen told King Pingxi in his edict that he had asked his minister Pang Yongzhong to protect the third son of the emperor, Prince Ding Cijiong, to break out of the capital. If the capital fails to defend in the end, the prince will also die. The country, then King Pingxi should assist King Ding Cijiong to clean up the mountains and rivers and revive the Ming Dynasty!"
