The ministers begged me to ascend the throne

Chapter 550: The King of Yue and the King of Han Conspired to Rebel

Last year, the emperor ordered all the princes to return to Beijing for the New Year. Except for the King of Han who did not return due to guilt, the King of Yue also did not return to Beijing.

The King of Yue stayed in Bingzhou and guarded Yanmen Pass, and could not leave easily. Since he went to Bingzhou, he never left again.

Now, the King of Han and the Huns' army have already attacked Yanmen Pass.

The King of Han did not want to spend too much time and manpower on attacking Yanmen Pass. Besides, the King of Dai had agreed to cooperate with him, so he could also cooperate with the King of Yue.

He originally thought that if he brought up the King of Dai, the King of Yue would be obedient, but he did not expect that the King of Yue would dare to make trouble, which made the King of Han very angry.

The King of Han offered many favorable conditions, but the King of Yue was reluctant to give in. It was obvious that the King of Yue wanted more.

"I really underestimated the ninth brother. I thought he was stupid, but I didn't expect him to be a pig to eat the tiger." After being rejected by the King of Yue, the King of Han was furious, "He is even greedier than the second brother."

"I have always thought that the King of Yue was a reckless man with no brains, but now it seems that he is not." Yang Qi frowned, his face not looking good, "I didn't expect that the King of Yue would pretend to be a pig and eat the tiger." It seems that only the King of Zheng is a fool, and the other princes are not easy to deal with.

"Old Nine is really good at pretending. He has been pretending for so many years and fooled everyone." King Han's face was very sinister, "How dare he not take me seriously!" Thinking of his previous visit to King Yue and the contemptuous look in King Yue's eyes when he saw him, King Han was furious.

“Your Highness, it is possible that the King of Dai asked the King of Yue to do this.” Yang Qi felt that he would not have the courage to challenge the King of Han just because of the King of Yue. “I guess the King of Dai raised the price.”

King Han was stunned by what he said, then he grinned and said, "You're right, it should be the second brother who raised the price."

"Your Highness, for now, we should agree to the conditions of the King of Dai and the King of Yue first, and then we will not recognize it after it is accomplished."

"I cannot swallow this humiliation." It has always been the King of Han who threatens others, but he did not expect that he is being threatened now.

"After the matter is accomplished, you can deal with the brothers, the King of Dai and the King of Yue." Yang Qi advised, "Your Highness, a little impatience will ruin a great plan."

The King of Han also knew that it would be of no benefit to break up with the King of Dai at this time. He could only tolerate the King of Dai's behavior of raising the price, and wait until the matter was done, then he would settle the accounts with them.

"Then agree to King Yue for now."

"I will go find the King of Yue right away."

Yang Qi moved quickly and appeared in the Prince of Yue's Mansion in a short while.

King Yue was not surprised to see Yang Qi coming again, and asked directly: "This time, you should be able to come up with conditions that satisfy me."

"Your Highness the King of Yue, His Highness the King of Han is very sincere..." Yang Qi took out a letter from his arms and handed it to the King of Yue with both hands.

The King of Yue took the letter, glanced at it carefully, and then smiled with satisfaction: "Since Fifth Brother is so sincere, I will naturally lend him a helping hand. Go back and tell Fifth Brother to cooperate with me in a play, and then let you pass Yanmen Pass smoothly."

"Thank you, Your Highness Prince Yue."

The King of Yue waved his hand and Yang Qi retreated respectfully.

After Yang Qi left, King Yue raised the corner of his mouth and sneered: "Fifth brother is still the same, likes to treat everyone as a fool."

"Your Highness, please don't tell His Highness the Prince of Dai about this, okay?" Chang Xiao was worried, "Aren't you afraid that the King of Han will tell His Highness the Prince of Dai about this?"

The King of Yue waved his hand and said nonchalantly, "Fifth Brother will only think that Second Brother asked me to do this. He is angry now and will not talk to Second Brother about this."

"Are you so sure?"

"Even if my second brother knew, what would happen?" King Yue sneered, "My second brother and my fifth brother teamed up to rebel, but they didn't tell me. It's normal for me not to tell him, isn't it?"

That's what I say, but...

"Aren't you afraid that His Royal Highness the Prince of Dai will blame you after he finds out?"

"I gave him the throne. Do you think he still blames me?"

Chang Xiao thought that the King of Yue did this in order to fight for the throne, but he didn't expect that this was not the case, which surprised him very much.

"Your Highness, don't you want the throne?"

"No, being an emperor is not as comfortable as my life now." The King of Yue said with a smile, "When my second brother takes the throne, my life will be even better. I can do whatever I want then."

"Your Highness, you haven't contacted His Royal Highness the Prince of Dai. How do you know that His Royal Highness the Prince of Dai doesn't sincerely want to cooperate with the King of Han?"

"If it were you, would you be willing to risk your life to help the King of Han?"

Chang Xiao shook his head and said, "I don't want to."

"My brother is not a fool. I guess the reason why he cooperated with the King of Han was to seize the throne. Then he could put all the blame on the fifth brother." King Yue said, "Then I will naturally help my brother and let him successfully kill the King of Han and sit on the throne."

When Chang Xiao heard this, he finally understood what the King of Yue was planning.

"Your Highness is wise."

The King of Yue smiled smugly and said, "Everyone thinks I'm stupid, but I'm actually smart. I'll use this opportunity to help my brother ascend to the top, saving him from having to fight with the Fourth and Seventh Brothers."

"Your Highness, when the future King knows that you are helping him like this, he will be very touched." "It is only natural for me to help my brother." The King of Yue was angry when he thought about how his brother had not been canonized as the crown prince after the former crown prince was deposed. "Father has become more and more confused in recent years. He is unwilling to give my brother the throne, so I will help my brother to seize the throne."

"Your Highness, you are such a good brother."

"I have always been a good brother to my brother." King Yue stood up, stretched and said, "King Han's collusion with the Xiongnu to rebel is a good opportunity. We must plan carefully."

"Your Highness, why don't you tell His Royal Highness the King of Dai?"

"If I tell you now, it won't be a surprise anymore." King Yue said seriously, "I want to give my brother a surprise."

"My slave understands."

"Let's go and discuss things with them." Since we are going to do such a big thing, we have to be meticulous.

Two days later, the King of Han and the Xiongnu army attacked Yanmen Pass. The King of Yue led his soldiers to resist tenaciously for three days and three nights, but they were ultimately unable to withstand the Xiongnu cavalry, allowing the Xiongnu army to break through Yanmen Pass.

After King Han and the Hun army broke through Yanmen Pass, they did not immediately attack the capital.

The capital city has 100,000 imperial guards, and most importantly, Song Weikang and Zhang Gong are guarding it. It is not an easy task to capture the capital city.

If they wanted to attack the capital, they had to have someone inside the capital to help. So they had to first let the King of Dai rebel in the capital, and then they would cooperate with each other inside and outside, so that they could successfully capture the capital.

After breaking through Yanmen Pass, the King of Han wrote a letter to the King of Dai, asking him to launch a rebellion in the near future.

When the King of Dai received the letter and was about to report the matter to the emperor, he received a secret letter from the King of Yue. When he finished reading the letter, he was so angry that he almost fainted. He never expected that the King of Yue would be involved in this matter.

The letter from the King of Yue made the King of Dai anxious, angry, moved, helpless, and delighted...

"Fu Zhong, go call your uncle."

Seeing that King Dai had a serious expression on his face, Fu Zhong did not dare to delay for a moment and hurriedly went to invite Marquis Xuanping.

When Xuanping Hou heard that the King of Dai had an urgent matter, he hurried over. When he saw the letter from the King of Yue to the King of Dai, he was so frightened that his body shook violently and he almost fell to the ground.

“Your Highness, this, this, this, this…” Marquis Xuanping was trembling all over.

"My ninth brother acted on his own initiative. I just found out that he was involved in this matter." The King of Dai knew that his brother was doing it for his own good, but he was very angry that his brother did not consult him before doing it. He was completely at a loss in this situation. "What should I do now, uncle?"

Marquis Xuanping was also in a mess at this time. His legs went weak and he fell into a chair.

"Your Highness, let me think about it."

King Dai's mind was also in a mess and he couldn't figure out what was going on for the time being.

Neither the uncle nor the nephew spoke a word, and sat there with sad faces.

After a while, or perhaps a long time, Marquis Xuanping sighed deeply: "Ah... Your Highness, what do you think?"

The King of Dai smiled bitterly and said, "Before I received the secret letter from my brother, I was going to go to the palace and confess everything to my father. Now I don't know whether I should go to the palace or not."

Xuanping Hou knew that the King of Dai was pretending to cooperate with the King of Han. "Your Highness the King of Yue is really too bold."

"I didn't expect my brother to be so bold, but he did it for me." The King of Dai was angry and helpless with his brother, the King of Yue. "If I go to the palace now and explain everything to my father, will my brother be blamed by my father?"

"Your Highness, His Royal Highness the King of Yue is plotting treason. How could the Emperor not blame him?" Marquis Xuanping said anxiously, "Treason means the entire clan will be exterminated. The Emperor might even kill His Royal Highness the King of Yue."

"I pleaded with my father. He probably won't kill my brother."

"Even if the emperor doesn't kill His Royal Highness the Prince of Yue, he will demote His Royal Highness the Prince of Yue to a commoner, and then imprison him in the Zongzheng Temple for the rest of his life, never to see the light of day."

"When I ascend the throne in the future, I will release my brother."

"Your Highness, now that you have come to the palace and confessed everything to the Emperor, will the Emperor believe you? After all, the King of Yue really colluded with the King of Han and rebelled with him." Xuanping Hou frowned, his expression very solemn, "You are the brother of the King of Yue, born of the same mother. How can you make the Emperor believe that you did not participate in the rebellion?"

"Father, don't you know who I am? Father, you won't believe that I am rebelling."

"Your Highness, the Emperor loves you, but when it comes to rebellion, all emperors would rather kill someone by mistake than let him go." Xuanping Hou said solemnly, "Especially now that the Emperor is seriously ill. The Emperor is always suspicious, and a seriously ill Emperor will be even more suspicious. The King of Han's rebellion has already touched the Emperor's bottom line, and now with the King of Yue, it's hard for the Emperor to believe that you are innocent."

After hearing what Xuan Pinghou said, the King of Dai's face darkened: "Uncle, are you asking me to rebel with my brother?"

"Your Highness, is there any other way?" In the moment of silence, Xuanping Hou imagined various possibilities in his mind. He carefully calculated that if he rebelled, he might have a 50% chance of winning. If he did not rebel, the King of Dai would be implicated by His Highness the King of Yue, and the Emperor would be wary and suspicious of him, and the King of Dai would never be able to sit on the throne.

"Uncle, I am the son that father values ​​most. There is no need for me to take risks."

"Your Highness, if you are the emperor's most valued son, then what about the King of Chu?" In recent years, the emperor has given more and more important responsibilities to the King of Chu, which makes Xuanping Hou feel uneasy. "In recent years, compared with the King of Chu, do you think the emperor still values ​​you the most?"

Xuan Pinghou's words made the King of Dai silent. In fact, in recent years, he has seen that his father is obviously biased towards the fourth son, but he is unwilling to give up and is unwilling to admit it.

"Your Highness, if the Emperor really values ​​you, you should be the one to offer sacrifices to the ancestors and heaven and earth this year. You are the eldest son, but the Emperor chose the King of Han. On the surface, letting the King of Han offer sacrifices will not cause misunderstanding, but in fact it is for the King of Chu." The more Xuanping Hou thought about it, the more he felt that it was not a bad thing for His Highness the King of Yue to make such a scene. "Your Highness, I am afraid that the Emperor has already chosen the King of Chu. The person on the secret decree behind the plaque of the Purple Palace is the King of Chu, not you."

The King of Dai remained silent. After a long while, he said in a hoarse voice, "Uncle, let me think about it."