In the prince's palace, an ordinary-looking middle-aged man wearing common people's clothes stood in front of the prince.
"Your Highness, the news has now spread! Now the people have begun to talk about this matter."
The prince looked at the man calmly: "Well, you did a good job. Let's go ahead and proceed to the next step."
"Yes!" The middle-aged man just responded softly, but his expression was a little weird.
The prince noticed something strange in the middle-aged man's eyes, so he asked, "Is there anything else?"
The middle-aged man replied with some hesitation: "There is news from Xiguan. In the process of fighting against the Jie people, two new weapons were used this time. They can produce huge explosions, accompanied by huge noises. It's so powerful that it can blow people directly into the sky. There is also a bow and arrow that is a huge mechanical device that has an extremely long range and is extremely powerful. The arrows it uses are as huge as a spear!"
The prince looked at the middle-aged man in confusion. He did not understand the meaning of the man's words because there was no such existence in his knowledge.
"What the hell is going on!"
"This subordinate is not very clear. That's all it was written in the message. I have ordered someone to conduct a detailed investigation." The middle-aged man replied cautiously.
The prince held his chin and thought to himself, could it be that the 100,000-strong army that could wipe out the Jie clan this time had something to do with these two new weapons.
After a moment, he said coldly: "No matter what, we must investigate this matter clearly."
"It's Your Highness!"
"Is there any news at the restaurant where the third child is in the capital?"
"My subordinates have been keeping an eye on me. It seems that they are just doing ordinary business in the restaurant, and I have never found any private contact with any officials!"
"The more silent there is, the more careful you must be. A slight negligence may cause trouble!" the prince said coldly.
"My subordinate understands, please rest assured, Your Highness."
A novel hot pot restaurant suddenly popped up in the capital, and it attracted many dignitaries and descendants of aristocratic families. Such a strange restaurant also attracted the attention of the Prince's Mansion. The Prince ordered people to secretly investigate the background of the restaurant, and then discovered this The restaurant is related to the Palace of Prince Yan.
But what he didn't know was that Zhao Bin only used this restaurant to make money and had no other plans. Therefore, the people in the restaurant only opened the door to do business on weekdays and never had any private dealings with any officials in the capital.
In the Xue Mansion, everyone was indignant at the suppression of the eldest prince by the prince's party today.
Situ Xuan, the head of the Household Department, said: Your Excellency, now the prince's party has repeatedly put pressure on the eldest prince. We cannot sit back and wait for death. We must come up with countermeasures to fight back! "
Han Sui, the head of the Ministry of Personnel, also had the same attitude. His immediate boss was Zhang Zhi, the right servant of the Ministry of Personnel, and Meng Xiangli, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was from the prince's faction. He, the chief of the Ministry of Personnel, was very depressed.
In fact, this is not only true for the Ministry of Personnel, but also for all official configurations in the Six Ministries.
Zhao Wuji would not let any department become the exclusive yamen of a certain big family. All officials were assigned alternately by the big families, to restrain each other and to supervise each other.
Take the Ministry of Hubu as an example. The Minister of Hubu is Xue Qing, but the right minister of the Ministry of Hubu is indeed Shangguan Lingyu, a close confidant of the emperor, and the minister is Liu Shangjin of the Liu family.
In the same Ministry of War, in addition to Fang Shutong, the Minister of War, there were also Yang Guozhong, a close confidant of the emperor, and Zhang Rang of the Zhang family.
Everyone is accustomed to this kind of thing, and just do whatever you want to do with ordinary business matters. You don’t hinder me, and I won’t hinder you. But from a personal standpoint, each has its own relationship.
Xue Qing just listened indifferently to the discussions of the officials below. It was not that he was indifferent to the actions of the prince's party, but that he felt that it was not the right time yet, the time was not mature enough, and the Xue family's preparations had not been completely completed.
Now that Xue Qing has the handle on the prince, it would be easy to kill the prince, but if he wants to truly control Daxia, he needs to be fully prepared.
Now Xue Yu, the second son of the Xue family, has controlled most of the court officials of the South Vietnam Kingdom. As long as the emperor of the South Vietnam Kingdom dies, the young prince will be unable to control the South Vietnam Kingdom. By then, Xue Yu will be able to control the entire court.
In addition, the Xue family is also secretly building a large number of weapons and equipment. By then, as long as the Xue family gives an order, they can quickly arm an army of 200,000 on the existing basis.
The battle in the court is important, but nothing is absolute, so the additional 200,000 troops are Xue Qing's biggest trump card. Even if he fails to seize power by then and unite with the South Vietnam Kingdom, the Xue family can definitely unite with other Several major families are confronting each other.
Of course, it would be the best choice to suppress several major families without any bloodshed, which is why Xue Qing tried his best to win over the Dai family. Not to mention the land of Hanzhong, even if the Dai family completely occupies Guanzhong, it is still worthwhile.
Thinking of this, Xue Qing looked at the others who were still thinking about the strategy and said, "Don't worry too much. I have already planned this matter. Now the Dai family has reached a consensus with me to assist His Royal Highness, the Prince." The party’s suppression of us and others is only a formal one, and it’s not a big deal.”
Xue Qing paused and continued: "Our immediate priority is to win the support of the Nanya Forbidden Army and the Beiya Forbidden Army as soon as possible. I heard that some commanders in the Beiya Forbidden Army have begun to turn to the prince, and the South Yamen Forbidden Army must not give in anymore. The prince and the others win over."
The Nanya Forbidden Army is stationed on the south side of the imperial city and is responsible for guarding the palace city, Kyoto, and even Nancheng government agencies. There are more than 50,000 people in total, and the highest commander is the Imperial Guard General.
The Beiya Imperial Guards are also known as the Four Guards of the North Gate. They are called the Qinglong Guard, the White Tiger Guard, the Suzaku Guard, and the Xuanwu Guard. They total 20,000 people. The four guards take turns guarding the palace and are directly responsible for the safety of the palace and the emperor. They are not responsible for other places. To ensure the security of the country, its supreme commander is General Jinwuwei.
The supreme commanders of the Northern and Southern Yamen reported directly to the emperor and were not subject to any official control in the court.
But now Zhu Ran, the commander of the Suzaku Guards among the four guards in Beiya, has secretly defected to the prince's faction.
Xue Qing is well aware of the importance of the North and South Yamen, and knows that whoever controls the North and South Yamen can be said to control the capital and the palace, so he has been secretly wooing generals at all levels in the North and South Yamen over the years!
However, the generals of the Northern and Southern Yamen rarely participated in the battle for the heir, so few generals would vote for which side. You must know that once such a thing is leaked, it will be a crime of beheading. The reason is very simple, it threatens the emperor's life. .
Regardless of whether you are the prince, prince, or the king of heaven, when you threaten the emperor's life, you should be killed. As the saying goes, the most ruthless emperor's family.
Of course, there are many people who are not afraid of death, and there are also many people who are motivated by interests. Otherwise, there would not have been so many palace coups in history. And every time such a thing happens, the participation of the imperial army must be inevitable!
Xue Qing already knew secretly that Zhu Ran had joined the prince's party. Although there was no direct evidence, the best evidence was that the prince could enter the palace at night.
Although he didn't know exactly what conditions the prince used to recruit Zhu Ran, the leader of the Suzaku Guard. But for something that allows people to risk beheading, the benefits are either large enough, or the other party has control over it.
If Xue Qing hadn't felt that the time was not ripe enough, he could have killed the prince by colluding with the Imperial Army or having an affair with a concubine, but this would only make Zhao Wuji more cautious.
After hearing Xue Qing talk about wooing the generals of the Forbidden Army, Situ Xuan, the head of the Household Department, said: "Sir, I have heard about something. The Youwuwei Zhonglang General Tong Hao in the Nanya Forbidden Army was a gambler by nature. I have spent a hundred thousand dollars in gambling money, so I think this matter can be used."
Xue Qing's eldest son, Xue Kui, said: "This Tong Kui is from a rough background and has a ferocious nature. His Majesty made great achievements in the Northern Expedition back then, and was valued by Your Majesty to achieve his current status. However, he has no foundation in his family. One hundred thousand guan is not enough for him." Not a small amount."
"What the eldest son said is true. Back then, Tong Hao was very famous in the army. In the first battle of His Majesty's Northern Expedition, he was the first to capture the flag. After that, he fought bravely to take the lead in every battle. He was promoted from a low-level untouchable to the rank of Zhonglang General. Location." Han Sui, the head of the Ministry of Personnel, also echoed.
Xue Qing knew that such people were usually hard-nosed and not necessarily easy to win over, but now it was indeed a good opportunity, so he thought he could give it a try. If the soft one doesn't work, then try the hard one. If the hard one doesn't work, Then replace it. Keeping this kind of thing may not be useful to you in the future.
