The palace used the "Shadou funnel" to keep time, and the "twilight drum and morning bell" to tell the time.
The morning bell has just rang four times, and Mao hour has arrived. Since returning to the palace from Prince Duan's Mansion at 3:00 pm last night, Emperor Yonghua has been standing in front of the stone railing of Qinzheng Hall, almost unchanged all night. He had encountered many troubles and worries in his life, but none of them had confused him as much as he did today. "Is it possible that in the past twenty-eight years, the tragedy of killing each other and killing each other will happen again?" The whole night, this was the only doubt in his mind. Ni Ju was waiting beside him, also silent all night.
"Ju Zheng, send my order to send a thousand divine sentry battalions to Pingzhou to welcome King Yi back. You will take care of this matter in a moment with my golden order and tell them to set off at dawn. The capital is far away from Pingzhou. It's only more than five hundred miles, so they won't stop and they will reach it in one day and night!" Emperor Yonghua turned sideways and said to Ni Juzheng on the side. No matter what, he must try to prevent the tragedy of twenty-eight years ago from happening again. The Shenshao Battalion is the emperor's personal guard, with a total strength of only 8,000 people. Three hundred of them have been assigned to Xia Muren, three hundred to Xia Muchao, and another fifty to the Anxian Salt Transportation Government Office. When Xia Muyang went to Binan, he was not escorted by the Shenshou Camp. He was accompanied by his personal guards in white clothes. This time, a thousand people were dispatched to protect Xia Muren. Obviously, in the eyes of Emperor Yonghua, his situation was the most dangerous.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Ni Juzheng bowed and responded.
"In addition, you will go to the Hanlin Academy in a while and ask them to draft two imperial edicts to urgently summon King Jaw and King Zhi back to the capital. The two imperial edicts will send a hundred divine sentry battalions to accompany them to Suzhou and Pinan outposts. Strictly order King Jaw and King Zhi to return to the capital. Your Majesty, as soon as you receive the imperial edict, you must return to the court immediately without any mistakes! All matters in hand will be temporarily handled by the subordinate officials." Emperor Yonghua said in a deep voice.
Ni Juzheng nodded "yes".
After pondering for a long time, Emperor Yonghua still felt that it was not appropriate enough and said again: "I will give a strict order to the county secretaries and resident generals of the six counties of Shanghe, Anxian, Fuyang, Binan, Cangsheng, and Fanxi, ordering them to send We escorted the three groups of King Yi, King Jaw and King Zhi along the way back to the capital. There must be no mistakes on the way! These twelve imperial edicts were sent by the Ministry of War by a post 800 miles away. Horses and people were changed along the way, so that no one could be stranded for more than one post. If there is any delay within two hours, behead him!" He was always generous and rarely killed people, but today he couldn't help but become ruthless.
Ni Juzheng had never seen him so decisive. It was clear that he had made up his mind that night and agreed immediately. At this time, he thought that everything was about to be finished and was about to retire, but Emperor Yonghua sighed deeply and said coldly: "Order Hu Xiu'an to send someone to closely monitor Prince Yun's palace to see who Prince Yun is interacting with. What if? When he found that people from the Jianghu community frequently came in and out of Prince Yun's palace, he asked him to send people to temporarily surround it. Yes, you will ask the Hanlin Academy to draw up an edict later, saying that Prince Yun is suffering from an emergency and will not be able to recover for a while. The matter of recruitment from Jianghu is left to the King Duan has full authority to handle the matter on his behalf."
The palm of your hand is your own flesh, so why isn’t the back of your hand your own flesh? Xia Muren, Xia Muchao, and Xia Muyang were his sons, and Xia Muyan was also his direct son. He didn't want to hurt any of them, and he didn't want to lose any of them.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Ni Juzheng replied, bowing and holding his hand.
Emperor Yonghua looked at the pale fish belly white rising in the east, his eyes were hazy, and he sighed quietly: "Your Majesty, no matter how important the throne is, how can it be more important than blood relatives!"
... ...
The lights were on all night long in Prince Yun's palace, and Xia Muyan also stayed awake all night. After everything was arranged properly, a smile began to appear on his face. Maybe it was the so-called confidence.
"Your Majesty, everyone has been let out, it's time for you to rest!" He Fu walked forward and advised. That night, he stayed by Xia Muyan's side and participated in everything. What the two of them planned was a big deal, and there was no room for any mistakes.
Xia Muyan picked up the tea cup on the table and took a sip of tea. With a slight smile on his face, he said softly: "Haha, you can sit down when we resume. Even though I have been busy all night, I am not sleepy at all. On the contrary, I feel much more energetic than usual!”
He Fukai sat down across from the tea table and said with a smile: "The prince has been planning for many years, and the plan is only for a short time. Naturally, it is very different from the past." He originally thought that Xia Muyan only had the idea of seizing the heir recently, but he did not expect that he had already planned it for a long time. , there were so many hidden chess pieces, which really frightened him.
Xia Muyan frowned and said with a half-smile, "You can deduce it for me again and see if there are any omissions?"
"Well... King Yi has the help of the Salt Gang and Jiudian. With the more than 300 people around King Yi, there is no way he can stop him. There is absolutely no way he can come back alive. As for King Jaw, in Aji Ge and Zhao Qianming were attacked from both sides, but he was fooled and would definitely die if he left the city. For the rest, I don’t know if Mu Danqing can handle a lone King Zhi. Haha..." He Fukai He lowered his head and muttered. Even he had never thought that Xia Muyan had placed the chess pieces so long in advance. His careful thinking and cautious actions were truly amazing.
"Haha! Maybe King Jaw is not fooled and doesn't leave the city? Or maybe Mu Danqing really can't even deal with a lone King Zhi. Haha..." Xia Muyan smiled strangely. His face was calm, but what he said was quite crazy, and even He Fukai was a little confused.
"Your Majesty, what about Zhang Suiguang? He is not a peaceful person!" He Fukai leaned over the tea table with one hand and said.
Xia Muyan raised his eyebrows with an indifferent look on his face and said with a smile: "His role for me is just to kill King Yi. There are many experts around King Yi. Our people may not be able to accomplish it. If they do it by force, it will cause trouble." If there is too much noise, nothing can be done later. There are many masters under Zhang Suiguang, and I am afraid they are the only ones who can handle this matter cleanly. As the saying goes, if you kill one thousand enemies, you will suffer eight hundred losses. It is impossible to say, this time We must also make him feel pain and pain! A person like him will never be willing to be easily used by others and raise a price for sitting on the ground. After the matter is completed, he will not let go of any of the people we sent. In order to accompany him I lost more than two hundred people by doing this, haha, don’t let me down!"
He Fuxin's head tightened, and his scalp couldn't help but feel numb. He thought to himself: "These are more than two hundred masters of death. Knowing that Zhang Suiguang will attack them, why didn't the prince blink?"
"Only by weakening my strength will I rely more on him and he can gain greater benefits. He is a smart man and an ambitious man. This kind of person is actually easier to deal with." Xia Muyan seemed to be telling him He Fu cleared up the doubts. He patted the table lightly with his fingers, raised his head, as if thinking about something, shook his head and nodded again for a long time, and said for a long time: "Reopen, you know? Sometimes people live just to do one big thing. In order to This matter can be thrown away, the blood can be spilled, and the flesh and blood can be discarded! I have worked hard for these eight years just to bet on this day! Deeds depend on people, but success depends on God. I have tried my best, and the rest is up to God. If you don't have eyesight, you won't be able to help. The matter has reached this point, and there is no way back. Even if it fails and dies, what's the big deal? What's the regret? Haha, if we make such a big move, someone must have known about it. News. I’m afraid that everything will be difficult for me in the coming days.”
He Fukai looked shocked and asked hurriedly: "My lord, do you think the emperor already knows about this matter?"
Xia Muyan shook his head and said softly: "Not necessarily. I don't know either. But he will definitely know in the near future."
"Then, then..." He Fukai was a little speechless. Xia Muyan was the first to say, "What's the big deal? The situation has been set, and I'm waiting for you to enter the urn." There was no hint of worry in his words, and there was always a faint smile on his face.
