On the north bank of the Yellow River, at the Pujin Ferry, a military horse galloped over. The man on the horse had feathers on his back. The ferry defenders did not dare to stop him, so the horse galloped away along the pontoon bridge.
One day later, the capital was shocked again, and the Jie tribe's 100,000-strong army blocked the border again. Zhao Wuji immediately ordered the 50,000 troops stationed in Luzhou to rush north to aid Zijingguan and Xiguan.
In the secret room of the residence of Xue Qing, the Minister of Household Affairs, Xue Qing handed a secret letter to a man in black and ordered him to send it to the residence of Huang Furui, the Minister of Military Affairs of the South Vietnam Kingdom.
Huangfu Yucheng is actually the pseudonym of Xue Yu, the second son of the Xue family. He is the nail that the Xue family arranged to enter the South Vietnam Kingdom twenty years ago.
In recent years, relying on the Xue family's benefits, Xue Yu successfully took the position of Minister of Household Affairs of Nanyue and concurrently served as the master of the Prince of Nanyue.
In addition, Xue Yu also used various means such as financial bribes and threats to win over ministers in the South Vietnamese court and eliminate dissidents.
Now the emperor of South Vietnam, Mu Lianchui, was greedy for women, overhauled the palace, raised concubines, and stayed away from government affairs for several months. However, the twelve-year-old prince Mu Lianying obeyed Xue Yu's words.
Although Xue Yu acted in every possible way in the court, when it came to governing the country, Xue Yu was never stingy. What he wanted was for the South Vietnam Kingdom to become stronger and stronger, which would serve as capital for the Xue family or for himself to strive for supremacy in the future.
In the prince's palace, Zhang Zhi and Zhang Rang were sitting on the left and right of the prince respectively.
Prince Zhao Chong took a sip of tea and then asked: "Uncle, have everyone in the Hou family in Guanzhong been controlled?"
Zhang Rang just smiled slightly and said: "Prince, don't worry, the head of the family has ordered people to capture all the more than 300 members of the Hou family. If Hou Tai dares to say anything unfavorable to His Highness, the entire Hou family will be buried with him."
The head of the Zhang family was the eldest brother of Zhang Rang and Zhang Zhi. Zhang's eldest son was in charge of Guanzhong, while his second son and third son served in the imperial court.
"The people sent by my father to investigate should be approaching Yancheng at this time. Hou Tai cannot be allowed to point the finger at us under any circumstances."
Zhang Ju, the right minister of the Ministry of Personnel, said: "Prince, don't worry. Although it is Gongsun Burang, the right minister of the Ministry of Justice, who is going to investigate the case this time, we are also followed by our people. You don't need to worry too much about this matter, even if there is really some bad news." , and can’t return to the capital.”
"That's good!" Prince Zhao Chong replied with satisfaction.
"It's just a pity that Zhang Da was really stupid in what he did this time. If I had known that the Jie tribe still had a large army behind them, why not resist for a few more days. Even if Xiguan is lost by then, it will not be a big deal and we can get rid of it in one fell swoop. Get rid of this scum like King Yan." Zhang Rang said angrily.
Zhao Chong also frowned when he heard this, and hurriedly asked: "How is our salt business in the capital?"
"It can be said that it has plummeted, and not only the Zhang family, but also the Xue family and the Dai family have almost been squeezed out of business. The fine salt sold by the Fang and Liu families is not only of good quality, but also cheaper than ours. Now We can only compete by lowering our prices.”
"But even so, those wealthy families who are accustomed to eating refined salt and fine salt no longer eat our coarse salt. Only some humble people will choose to buy coarse salt." Zhang Ju added.
The prince said with relief: "You two uncles don't have to worry. When Gu inherits the throne, the fine salt business will still be ours sooner or later. When the time comes, Gu will compensate the two uncles."
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
"Why are you two uncles so polite? You and I are one body, so naturally we advance and retreat together."
Seeing that it was getting late, Zhao Chong said, "My uncles, please go back to your home today. I have other things to do."
After seeing off the two Zhang family members, Zhao Chong changed his clothes and took advantage of the opportunity to follow his personal eunuch Li Dequan towards the palace.
Li Dequan has already found out that Yancheng is once again facing difficulties due to the resumption of border wars. Zhao Wuji may go to Concubine Ding in the Qingxin Palace in the West Courtyard today to give the concubine some comfort.
The guards on duty in the palace today happened to belong to the prince. The prince, who was wearing a cloak and covering his face, followed Li Dequan through the palace gate. The guards on duty lowered their heads as if they didn't see anything.
The two took a detour and headed towards Qiulan Palace near the back garden.
Outside Qiulan Palace, Dequan gently knocked on the door knocker three times, two long and one short. Then, the door of Qiulan Palace was opened a small crack. After Li Dequan looked around twice, he followed Zhao Chong through the door. Inside.
As the saying goes, "Young girls love each other, they fall in love endlessly in the spring night under the brocade tent, Bai Mei's spring soul is in chaos, and the bones are collected and melted in front of the three peaks."
The two icy-muscular girls, once the emperor and the prince, were dripping with sweat in the curtain. When it was over, Zhao Chong lay flat on the bed filled with fragrance, letting the two girls caress his chest.
A mournful voice could not help but be heard, and Luo Yujin could only be heard sighing: "Hey, I don't know when this pain of lovesickness will end."
Zhao Chong caressed her smooth and delicate back and said, "Aren't you here alone? Why don't you understand the pain of missing you?"
"His Royal Highness the Emperor can only sneak in once in a few days. How can we relieve the pain of missing each other? I and my sister only hope to be with His Highness like this all day long." Luo Yujin raised her sad eyes and looked at Zhao Chong.
"It would be great if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince could inherit the throne as soon as possible." Luo Yuzhu also spoke in agreement, "Then there would be no need to be so sneaky."
"I don't want to be crowned a great treasure as soon as possible, but now that my father is alive and the eldest prince's party is eyeing him, it's not easy."
Luo Yuzhu stood up from Zhao Chong's arms. She looked at Zhao Chong and said: "Your Highness, don't blame me for being talkative. The more so, Your Highness should make arrangements as soon as possible. The eldest prince and his party have been coveting the crown prince's position for a long time. If your Majesty I have some strange thoughts, how will your Highness deal with you then?"
Luo Yujin also hurriedly echoed: "That's not all. This kind of thing happened in the previous dynasty. When Emperor Longyuan was the prince, he launched a mutiny and killed the prince's party before he won the throne. His Highness the prince had to Be on guard."
"However, it is said that Emperor Nalongyuan was only twenty years old when he ascended the throne. During his reign, he also worked hard to govern and created a prosperous dynasty."
The two sisters Luo Yuzhu and Luo Yujin sang and recounted some past history, with the intention of arousing the prince's inner desires.
The two were talking intentionally or unintentionally, and the words gradually reached Zhao Chong's ears, and then penetrated into his heart. Both the former Emperor Longyuan and today's Zhao Wuji came to the throne at the age of twenty.
But he, Zhao Chong, is now over twenty-five years old. He has sat on the position of the prince for too long. The competitiveness in the young man's bones, especially in front of women, makes him feel that this prince has done this. Somewhat frustrated.
His face became a little solemn and he said: "This world will soon be lonely. No one can take the throne from Gu's hands, and no one can stop Gu from ascending to the throne."
After speaking, Zhao Chong turned over and pressed the two women under him. It wasn't until the moonlight set in the west that the prince dragged his tired body out of Qiulan Palace and quietly left the palace in the night.
