Dahan first prince

Chapter 379

In the 16th year of the Han Dynasty, the eighth day of October in the winter of the fourth year of Liu Yingxinyuan, outside the north gate of Pyongyang.

Looking in front of him, the door was already opened to him, and looking around, he couldn't see Pyongyang City standing upright, Zhou Bo couldn't help but turned his head full of surprise.

Seeing Li Ji on the side, he also looked at Zhou Bo full of doubts at the moment, as if he couldn't believe it at all: Pyongyang City, just like this "beat" down...
"Weman..."

"You have already led your troops to flee south?"

The surprised question finally caused Zhou Bo to sigh indifferently, then shook his head with a stiff smile.

"No."

"According to Weiman's private soldiers captured by a certain department, when my army left Hangu in the east, Weiman had already recruited an army to attack Zhenfan and Ma Hantu in the south."

"Only today..."

As he said that, Zhou Bo couldn't help raising his head, looking not far away, it might not even be considered a city in the Central Plains, at most it could only be regarded as the city wall of Pyongyang in the county seat, and let out a long sigh leisurely.

"Pyongyang will be destroyed without a fight, Weiman's retreat is dead, and the twelfth lunar month and winter are not far away."

"Zhenfan, Mahan and other tribes cannot be dispatched by Weiman in three to five days."

"Let's wait for the destruction of the city of Pyongyang to be spread southward by word of mouth among the Korean people, and the Weiman tribe will be in a state of confusion; on the contrary, the Zhenfan and Mahan tribes will be full of enthusiasm for war..."

In the tone, he still spoke in disbelief, Zhou Bo finally smiled, turned sideways, and gave a slight bow to Li Ji who was beside him.

"Here, let's first congratulate Li Cheqi on his strong year, and win the merit of destroying the country?"

Hearing Zhou Bo's words, Li Ji still seemed unable to recover from the shock of "breaking the Korean kingdom without fighting", and blinked dully.

"The merit of destroying the country..."

At this moment, Li Ji's mind was completely blank.

Before the army set out, Li Ji had already deduced with his father Li Shang: After crossing the Yishui River and setting foot on the Korean Peninsula, what obstacles will the main forces of the Han army encounter respectively;
When they arrive near Pyongyang, what will Weiman do to deal with it? How should the Han army encircle Pyongyang City?

In order to ensure that Li Ji's trip is safe, the Qu Zhouhou family can be said to have put all their strength together. The private soldiers formed by the collateral descendants of the Li family alone gathered no less than a hundred people!

Before setting off, Qu Zhou Hou Li Ji even used his contacts to piece together a personal guard of more than 700 people for Li Ji!

——Not responsible for participating in the battle, only responsible for sending Li Ji safely back to the Death Squad west of Weishui when necessary!

Even so, before Li Jilin set off, he had prepared for the worst, settled his wife and children, and left a suicide note to his father, Li Shang.

With such determination to set foot on the battlefield, and set foot on the Korean peninsula to the east of the Weishui River, Li Ji was walking on thin ice, not daring to be sloppy at all, leading his South Route Army step by step, not daring to underestimate the enemy and advance rashly!
When they arrived hundreds of miles northwest of Pyongyang, Li Ji even ordered: the whole army enters the highest state of combat readiness, and scouts and scouts, and the range of martial law at light and dark checkpoints must reach a radius of [-] miles around the camp!

Just like this, I approached Pyongyang step by step carefully, approaching the target little by little, just like a cheetah approaching its prey, not daring to be careless for a moment...
Then, the city of Pyongyang collapsed without attack.

After the Qi-Chu waterway coalition forces "fall from the sky" appeared on the coastline less than [-] miles away from Pyongyang, and successfully landed, such a national war concerning the survival of the Wiman Korean society came to an end in such a dramatic form.

——Pyongyang City, take the initiative to open the door to surrender...

——Just one year ago, Weiman Joseon Guozuo, who had sent envoys and envoys, and then found the protection of the Huns, was declared dead before this playful 'war' broke out... ··
"wrong!"

"And Wiman!"

While thinking about it, Li Ji suddenly let out an approach, and immediately looked at Zhou Bo beside him solemnly.

"Also ask the Taiwei to show me!"

"Now that the city of Pyongyang is broken, and the thief Weiman is nowhere to be found, what should our army do?"

He bowed his hands to Zhou Bo in a serious manner, and Li Ji's face finally showed a touch of excitement that should have appeared long ago.

——The feat of destroying the country!
——Since Emperor Taizu Gao established Han Zuo, the only person in the Han Dynasty who has won the "merit of destroying the country" is Han Xin, Marquis of Huaiyin!

Although in the end, Han Xin's fate was not good, but it did not affect the lofty status of the word "destruction of the country" in the hearts of every Han family soldier!
At this moment, Li Ji finally came to his senses: I'm afraid that I really did what Zhou Bo said, and accidentally made this 'death to the country'.

Although it was won without a fight, although it was not obtained alone, in any case, the credit of a'handsome teacher defeating the country' has already been eaten by Li Ji!

And the only variable that could wipe out this credit and force Li Ji to "eat and vomit" was the missing leader of the bandits: Wei Man!
So in Li Ji's mouth, although he asked, "Please tell the lieutenant to instruct the army on the next move", the meaning in the words was extremely simple.

——Please order the Taiwei to allow our troops to go south to pursue and hunt down Weiman!

In Li Shang's view, it was unlikely that Zhou Bo would not give him this face.

But what was a little unexpected to Li Ji was that after hearing what he said, a look of hesitation suddenly appeared on Zhou Bo's face.

"Could it be?"

"Yu Weiman's thief, the Taiwei has other plans?"

Barely maintaining a steady tone, and asking such a question with deep meaning, Li Ji's eyebrows also showed a dissatisfaction.

From Li Ji's point of view, Zhou Bo's expression clearly does not want to give himself this face...

"No, no."

"My lord, I misunderstood something."

Seemingly perfunctory, but clearly not fake, Zhou Bo's eyes on Li Ji became deeper and deeper.

Zhou Bo finally took a deep breath when Li Ji was stared into his heart by this gaze, and then walked forward solemnly, facing Li Ji.

"Don't dare to hide anything from your son."

"——When he was about to leave for the expedition, His Majesty once called a certain individual meeting in the announcement room, and gave him a secret edict."

"Your Majesty once said: Wait until the city of Pyongyang is under the city to dismantle this secret edict and observe it, and then act according to the edict."

Saying this with a serious expression, Zhou Bo took another deep breath, probed around without a trace, and then took a step forward, and mysteriously put his hand into his bosom, and took out a wooden box.

It was almost at the moment when he saw the wooden box, especially the word "destined by heaven, long life and good health" reflected on the clay, Li Ji jumped back hurriedly, and immediately moved towards the wooden box. He bowed his hands deeply.

After Li Ji saluted the wooden box and straightened up solemnly, he saw Zhou Bo's face was full of sorrow.

"Ugh······"

"This secret edict should not be known to outsiders, even Li Cheqi should not know it."

"Of course..."

While speaking full of distress, Zhou Bo turned his head again, making sure that there was no one around, so he held the wooden box with one hand and covered Li Ji's ear with the other hand.

"However, neither the queen mother nor the prime minister knows about this secret edict..."

"According to what His Majesty said, above the imperial edict, there is only the seal of the emperor, but not the seal of the queen mother and the seal of the prime minister..."

"It is Shiqu Pavilion, and there is no backup of the imperial edict..."

Just these few words caused Li Ji's complexion to change drastically!

His eyes widened in horror, and he switched his gaze back and forth between Zhou Bo and the wooden box several times. Li Jicai wrinkled his nose in horror, and pointed his finger at the wooden box in horror.

"No... no phoenix seal, photo seal, and no backup files?"

He asked a question in disbelief, and when Zhou Bo nodded with a grim face, the expression of horror on Li Ji's face deepened.

"This!"

Subconsciously exclaimed, Zhou Bo hurriedly grabbed Li Ji's sleeves, and finally brought Li Ji back to his senses. He suppressed the fear in his heart and lowered his trembling voice as much as possible.

"The seals and seals are not in order, and there is no backup file..."

"If this edict is honored! It will be a false edict!!!"

Li Ji's horrified tone made Zhou Bo even more flustered, wishing he could throw the wooden box in his hand back into the water hundreds of miles away!

But after thinking about it, in fact, Zhou Bo could only hold the wooden box carefully, not daring to show any disrespect to this hot potato.

"Exactly that!"

"Emperor Taizu Gao has a system: all edicts of the emperor should be used together with the imperial seal, Houfeng seal, and Han Xiangyin, and they should be divided into Xiangfu and Shiqu Pavilion for backup files, so as to prove their authenticity;"

"A certain person also knows this edict, but if he obeys it, he will inevitably be in danger of correcting it!"

"However, this is a secret edict given by His Majesty. If you don't obey it, you will not obey it..."

Seeing Zhou Bo talking, he was anxious like a horse on a hot pot, pacing back and forth anxiously in this area that was only two or three steps away. It took a lot of effort for Li Ji to finally manage to stabilize his mind.

After calming down, he looked deeply at the wooden box that was sealed with mud by the Imperial Seal of the Han Dynasty, and then lowered his head to contemplate for a while, Li Ji's brows could not help but be filled with the same sadness as Zhou Bo's. color.

As Zhou Bo said: According to the rules set by the Taizu Gao Emperor Liu Bang, all imperial edicts must have the emperor's jade seal, the prime minister's seal, and the empress dowager's seal, and they must be in triplicate. documents to prove its legitimacy.

Of course, the item of "Queen Dowager Fengxi" was proposed by Liu Ying, who was the prince at that time, when Liu Bang was dying, and it was added as a condition.

Under such regulations, as long as a Heaven's Edict cannot be backed up in one of the places between Xiangfu and Shiqu Pavilion, it can be directly judged as a false edict!

For example, if there is an edict issued by the Son of Heaven, Shiqu Pavilion has a backup, but the Prime Minister's Mansion does not, so the prime minister can write a letter stating that the minister does not know about this edict;
In this way, the emperor who was "invoked by the prime minister" has only two options to consider: either, admit that this is a false edict, sentence the holder of the edict according to law, and invalidate all the contents of the edict!
Or, just give in to the prime minister and explain: Oh, this edict is indeed issued by me, but I forgot to send the backup to the prime minister, so the prime minister should never be offended...

In this case, if the prime minister has a good temper, he can just laugh it off and say 'it's okay, just pay attention next time';
But if the prime minister has a bad temper, and it happens that the emperor is young and the ruler of the country is suspicious, then he can bite the bullet and scold the emperor severely!
——What do you eat, emperor!
——Are the rules of the ancestors all ignored!

——This also makes me how to be a prime minister!
If the situation really develops to the point where 'the emperor and the prime minister are at odds', there are only two possibilities for the final result.

Either abolish the emperor and establish another, or dismiss the prime minister and worship another; that is, one of the two must go.

From a practical point of view, the probability of the latter is basically infinitely close to [-]%.

And this is also the origin of the monstrous power represented behind the word "Han Xiang": official edicts require the prime minister's seal; legal regulations require the prime minister's nod.

As long as the emperor does not intend to dismiss the prime minister, then the emperor will not be able to forcefully promote anything that the prime minister says 'no'.

In other words: on any major matter related to the ancestral temple and the country, the prime minister has the "one-vote veto power" like the five hooligans of later generations.

As for the current problem that Zhou Bo encountered, it was much more complicated.

——The 'secret imperial edict' in Zhou Bo's hands is not only not backed up in the Prime Minister's Mansion, but also in Shiqu Pavilion, the Royal Archives Room!

This means that in the future, when someone uses this to attack Zhou Bo's "pretense", such a strange scene is likely to appear——

Cao Shen said: Hey, this imperial edict, I don't have a backup here?Does Your Majesty know about this?

Liu Ying replied: I don't know, I don't have a backup here...
"Correction..."

"Correction..."

Whispering with a stern expression, Li Ji's sad eyes finally moved up slowly involuntarily, from the wooden box to Zhou Bo's frightened face.

"Taiwei Zhou Bo, successively served as Huben Commander and General, and was first named Marquis of Mighty Wu;"

"In the battle between Chu and Han, they attacked Zhao Ben, defeated Zhangping, and encircled Zhanghan, and made great achievements repeatedly; in the battle of Chenggao, they stayed behind in the town and broke into Chenggao, leading troops to attack the three counties of Quni, Sishui, and Donghai. 22 counties..."

"In the sixth year of Emperor Taizu Gao, he was granted the title of Marquis Jiang, with 180 and [-] households in the city;"

"Hou Ping Han Wangxin, Chancellor Chen Xi, and Yan Wang Lu Wan rebelled, and the officials worshiped the Taiwei..."

He silently read Zhou Bo's life history in his heart, and then looked at the extremely 'dangerous' wooden box. On Li Ji's face, a look of understanding finally slowly emerged.

"What is Taiwei's intention, do you want someone to be a witness, so that when something happens in the future, someone can speak for you?"

Indifferently, seeing Zhou Bo nodding repeatedly without any surprises, Li Ji shook his head meaningfully, and then let out a long sigh.

"It's not that someone doesn't want to help."

"Just this secret edict, the Taiwei has to read it alone, and he must obey it."

"So, I'm sorry..."

With mixed expressions on his face, Li Ji finally bowed to Zhou Bo and turned around immediately.

After getting on his horse and sighing again, Li Ji greeted the soldiers around him and walked towards the city of Pyongyang not far away.

After walking a hundred steps, Li Ji finally turned his head again and stared deeply at Zhou Bo's messy, dazed figure in the wind.

"Ugh······"

"In the future, I should also pay attention to it."

"When the class teacher returns to the court, please resign immediately..."

(End of this chapter)