Wind rises time and space gate

Chapter 537 Jiang Xiang's Death
The boy surnamed Lin who was raised in the Prince of Yue's mansion suddenly became the Prince of Yue's biological son and grandson. Emperor Zhizheng never recovered from the shock.

He secretly sighed that the seventh brother had kept it a secret from him, and was also annoyed that he had not seen the relationship between the father and son at the time.

After the King of Yue detained the troops in the suburban camp and prohibited them from returning to the capital, Emperor Zhizheng sent numerous spies to closely monitor the movements at Hangu Pass. He naturally also received the news that the master had come to the Grand Marshal's Mansion.

He didn't know Ji Changfeng, so he sent someone to check.

The prince searched for a long time but could not find Ji Changfeng's identity information. Yan Jingzhe, who was beside the prince, was surprised that his uncle actually went to teach the prince of Yue in person. For the sake of his own life, he would not say a word in front of the prince.

Although Yunjing Mountain is well-known, it is difficult for outsiders to get a glimpse of what is going on inside. However, as an emperor, Emperor Zhizheng has his own channels to understand.

Everyone thought that Yan Jingzhe's master Yan Guiyun was Yun Jingshan's successor, but they didn't expect that Ji Changfeng was actually the one.

But Ji Changfeng was used to living a carefree life and rarely stayed in the mountains.

Emperor Zhizheng did not expect that the master of Yunjing Mountain would go to teach the child in person. He felt complicated.

He had been watching the King of Yue coldly these days, and he couldn't help but compare the Crown Prince with the King of Yue. The more they compared, the more he felt that although the Crown Prince had been the heir to the throne for more than ten years, he was still inferior to the King of Yue.

The crown prince was raised as a bastard when he was young, and when he was old enough to start a family, he was still a bastard with little chance. No one thought that one day he would be the crown prince. He was not good enough in background or experience.

Emperor Zhizheng wanted to choose one of the prince's sons as the crown prince and teach him from a young age, just like his father had appointed the former crown prince as the crown prince and invited famous teachers to teach the former crown prince.

Before he could decide on the candidate, he received news that Professor Chang Zhi was Ji Changfeng.

Emperor Zhizheng once again walked outside the imperial study and stared at the bright moonlit sky in a trance. Under the starry sky, there were many stars, the main star and the guest star were facing each other in the distance, the main star had not disappeared, and the guest star seemed to be brighter.

"Liu Qi, do you think this is God's will?"

Liu Qi looked up at the starry sky. He was stunned for a moment by Emperor Zhizheng's incoherent words. When he reacted, he dared not answer.

"Your Majesty, you are teasing me. I don't know how to read the stars. I don't know what is God's will. I know that serving Your Majesty well and making Your Majesty happy is my greatest blessing."

Emperor Zhizheng was not angry when he did not get an answer.

Every one of these close attendants obeyed him. Most of the time he felt very comfortable using them, but sometimes he felt that the world was so big that he couldn't even find someone who could speak the truth.

I wonder if this is the sorrow of every emperor.

When he returned to the imperial study, he saw the names of several generals written on the dragon table. He had been thinking about the replacement of generals in the three northwestern fortresses these days. Emperor Zhizheng stared at the list on the table in a trance.

Of the four forts at the northwest border, one has fallen into the hands of the King of Yue, and the other three are unlikely to be protected. The combined forces of the three forts are not as many as those in the hands of the King of Yue.

Pulled around and moved the whole body.

Maybe the King of Yue is just waiting for the capital's action?

Emperor Zhizheng did not dare to gamble easily.

The peace had lasted too long, and no one wanted turmoil. He had killed many people more than a decade ago, and that turmoil was still fresh in his mind. If there was another bloody storm in his later years, I wonder how future history books would record him.

He was wrong to let Old Seven leave the capital. Now he can no longer be suppressed.

Emperor Zhizheng was a little annoyed when he thought about the Crown Prince repeatedly hinting at him to change the generals. He was even more annoyed when he recalled that he had summoned Duke Dingguo and other military officers to ask about changing the generals, and all the officials advised him to be cautious, saying that someone had to guard the northwest.

As to whether it would be better to hand it over to the King of Yue or to someone else, all the ministers remained silent.

I think this is something an emperor should consider.

But they all tacitly advised Emperor Zhizheng not to push the King of Yue too far. If he did, no one could guarantee what the consequences would be.

Emperor Zhizheng secretly hated the cunningness of his ministers.

But there was nothing he could do. Not to mention the other ministers, just him, he no longer had the vigor and vigor he had when he was young and succeeded to the throne.

Before Emperor Zhizheng could make a decision, he received a secret letter from the King of Yue, which was included in the memorial submitted by the Ministry of War.

After Emperor Zhizheng opened it and read it, his face turned pale.

How dare the King of Yue threaten him!
This old man is really hateful! He actually said that the prince sent people to assassinate him several times, but he turned a blind eye and said that he felt chilled. He also said that he was holding the hundreds of thousands of troops in the capital for his own safety.

The reason why the other three passes in the northwest were in their hands was that when the Western Rong coalition attacked the northwest before, the four passes were united and supported each other. Now that the war has ended, in order to avoid further fighting, the four passes are united into one, just to better defend the northwest.

As an idle prince, not only does he have access to military power, but now he even talks about occupying the four borders of the northwest in such a high-sounding way!
Emperor Zhizheng was so angry that he swept all the memorials on the table to the ground.

The Seventh Brother even threatened him that if he replaced the generals in charge of the four northwestern border areas, he would use the Wei River as the boundary and send troops to attack the area south of the Wei River and rule the area according to the river.

You are so brave!
Emperor Zhizheng knew that his son had evil intentions, but he didn't expect him to be so bold that he threatened to divide the four frontiers in the northwest by dividing the Wei River! He was so audacious! He had no respect for the emperor and the ancestral etiquette!

Emperor Zhizheng angrily paced around in the imperial study, and the more he paced, the angrier he became. He wanted to immediately send someone to Hangu City to capture Zhao Guangyuan, the rebellious son, and chop him up!

hateful! hateful!
"Zhao Guangyuan!" He gritted his teeth in hatred.

Liu Qi, who was waiting on the side, didn't dare to breathe. He huddled there, wishing there was some magic that could make him disappear immediately. He looked at the mess of memorials on the ground and didn't dare to pick them up.

I took a quick look at the emperor and saw him spinning around angrily, cursing as he turned, and I became curious again. I didn't know how the King of Yue had angered the emperor.

Although the emperor was angry these days, he was never as angry as he is now. He was mostly in deep thought. But now, if the King of Yue was here, he would tie him up and beat him with a stick or even cut his throat.

Liu Qi shrank more and more like a invisible man.

I wonder how many days he has been claiming to be ill. Is it okay to replace him with the chief steward to serve the emperor?

Later, the prince also got the news. He also learned that the secret letter from the King of Yue was submitted inside the official documents of the Ministry of War, so he immediately went to the Ministry of War in person.

On that day, anyone who received official documents from the Ministry of War to the palace was interrogated by the prince.

On that day, the prince found a reason to drag out two eunuchs from the memorial office and beat them to death. When Emperor Zhizheng heard the news, he just frowned and did not say anything about the prince's behavior.

But when Jiang and Xiang learned that the two eunuchs in the memorial office had died innocently, they still sent people to collect their bodies and had them transported to a place with excellent scenery for burial. They did not allow them to expose the mass grave.

When the prince learned about it, he sneered a few times and called Jiang Xiang over the next day.

No one knew what the prince and Jiang Xiang talked about, but at the court meeting the next day, Jiang Xiang took the excuse of illness and did not attend.

All the ministers thought that the King of Yue had angered the emperor again, and Jiang Xiang was hiding from the emperor's anger. But unexpectedly, news came that Jiang Xiang was seriously ill that night.

In fact, when Jiang Xiang came out of the Eastern Palace that day, he knew that he would not live long.

It was not because he was careless this time and put the secret letter from the King of Yue inside the official documents of the Ministry of War and presented it to the emperor. It was because the King of Yue's behavior during this period made the prince angry and had nowhere to vent. As for the cabinet minister who stood firmly beside the King of Yue, the prince had long wanted to get rid of him.

This time, in addition to himself, he also wanted to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys. He wanted to use his death to tell other ministers who defected to the King of Yue that if they persisted and refused to repent, they would end up like him. "Father!" Jiang Xuyang and Jiang Wentao knelt in front of Jiang Xiang's bed, crying uncontrollably.

"Don't cry, my son. Listen carefully to what your father has to say..."

At this time, Jiang Xiang was like a dying man, trying hard to give the clearest explanation from his throat.

That day, he was forced to drink poison in the East Palace. Even if he went back to the palace and used the magic medicine given by the King of Yue to suppress it, it only delayed the poison for a while. The palace sent people everywhere but couldn't find the antidote. Jiang Xiang knew that he was powerless to save the situation.

"Father!"

"My son..."

"My son is here! I am listening, father, please say..."

Jiang Xiang looked at his two sons with a lingering look. The two sons knelt in front of the bed and cried non-stop, and his old wife, who was supporting him and letting him lean on her, was probably also crying wet her clothes, and the tears dripped into his hair from time to time, burning him.

"I'm afraid the prince won't let our family go. After my father died, Xuyang resigned from the emperor and returned home with his family to carry the coffin. Wentao contacted the King of Yue's secret guards in Beijing and asked them to protect you... After my father is buried, you will follow the King of Yue's people to the northwest..."

"Father! Father, you'll be fine!"

Jiang Wentao cried until his voice was hoarse, and he held his father's hand tightly, fearing that his father would pass away in the next moment. "Father, you have to hold on. I have sent a pigeon to the King of Yue. He will definitely find a way! Father, you must hold on!"

The King of Yue was struck by a poisonous arrow from the Western Rong, and there was no cure for the disease. But when the King of Yue recovered, his father would surely get better too.

"Yes, father, you must hold on!"

Jiang Xuyang never expected that his father endured humiliation and was ridiculed by countless people over the years, saying that he was hated so much by Emperor Zhizheng, but he still clung to power, refused to let go, and refused to resign.

Countless people misunderstood his father, but Jiang Xuyang knew that his father was not attached to power, he just wanted justice.

I want to seek justice for those who died unjustly.

Seeing that the situation of the King of Yue is very good now, and my father has been waiting for justice for so many years, and it seems that he will soon get what he wants, how can he not hold on at this critical moment?

"Father..." Jiang Xuyang just felt that the world was unfair.

How could Jiang and Xiang not hate each other?

He had persevered for so many years, and now that the haze was about to clear and a bright future was about to come, how could he not bear it? He still had a lot of things to do. He still had a lot of things to tell the King of Yue...

As for the young prince, he wanted to wait for him to return to the court and teach him in person, just like he taught the former prince many years ago.

Two lines of turbid tears flowed down the corners of Jiang Xiang's eyes.

Not willing to give in.

Jiang Xiang died. A white banner was hung at the gate of Jiang's mansion. The whole capital was in uproar.

Countless people once scolded Jiang Xiang for being spineless. He knew that he was an eyesore to the emperor, but he refused to resign and continued to speak out in the court, hurting the emperor's heart. Countless people secretly said that Jiang Xiang was greedy for power.

But now he suddenly died and no one reacted.

Such an arrogant person, who was not afraid of what others said and was as strong as a pine tree at all times, had never been seen bending to anyone. But for the sake of the former crown prince and the King of Yue, a man who could refute the emperor in court, fell down forever?
What disease do you have?

Leaving so suddenly?

Soon, the news that Jiang Xiang had been to the Eastern Palace two days before his death spread. The day after leaving the Eastern Palace, Jiang Xiang excused himself from court due to illness, and died the next day.

All the ministers fell silent and dared not speak nonsense again.

Emperor Zhizheng called the prince to the imperial study, and before he could stand still to salute, he threw a series of memorials in his face.

"Jiang Xiang is a second-rank cabinet minister, how dare you attack a court official!"

The prince did not dodge or evade, allowing the memorial to be thrown into his face.

He hadn't thought that he could hide this from his father. As for the outside world, he didn't want to hide it either.

Didn't Zhao Guangyuan boast of his great achievements, such as his merits in flood control, his merits in leading troops to repel the enemy, his merits in signing the "Hangu Pass Peace Agreement", and his merits in opening up the mutual trade, which benefited the country and the people and was praised by thousands of people? He would let those fence-sitters see whether the King of Yue could protect them if they followed him!
Jiang Xiang, the most capable general under Zhao Guangyuan, could be killed by him. Are other ministers who are not as high-ranking and powerful as Jiang Xiang confident that they will not be the second Jiang Xiang?

He just wanted to see how Zhao Guangyuan would be abandoned by his friends and relatives as he became a lonely man with no one to rely on.

First, let him climb up the ladder to heaven, and then let him fall down from the clouds. Then, I will step on him hard into the mud!
When the prince thought of this, he wanted to laugh out loud. The pent-up anger in his chest seemed to be swept away.

Emperor Zhizheng looked at the prince, who still had a smile on his face, and felt that he didn't recognize him.

Is this still the same prince who is filial and obedient, and kind and generous to his brothers and sisters?

Perhaps feeling that the atmosphere was a little strange, the Crown Prince knelt down before Emperor Zhizheng and defended himself, "Your Majesty, I did not want to kill Jiang Xiang, I just wanted to threaten him. Who would have thought that he would actually drink that cup of poisoned wine?"

Emperor Zhizheng thought this was ridiculous. "Jiang Xiang is an important official of the court, a subject of mine, not yours! Why did you prepare poisoned wine for him?"

The prince did not raise his head. "Jiang Xiang secretly smuggled letters from outside into official documents, bribed and threatened the eunuchs in the memorial office, and treated the palace as his own backyard. He did not take my father seriously, was bold and reckless, and had no respect for the emperor. I just wanted to give my father a warning."

Emperor Zhizheng felt powerless when he saw the prince like this.

Things have changed. The King of Yue has changed, and the Prince has changed too.

The news of Jiang and Xiang's death caused an uproar in the capital and caught countless people off guard.

Caocuo burst into tears when he heard the news. He recalled that when the King of Yue was in the imperial mausoleum, everyone avoided him, but only Jiang Xiang was not afraid of what others said and took care of him everywhere. He wiped his tears and personally led the servants of the King of Yue's mansion to Jiang's mansion to help deal with his funeral.

Zhao Guangyuan had secretly sent a letter to Caocuo, asking him to go to the northwest, but Caocuo insisted on staying to help the King of Yue manage the palace. Now that the King of Yue and the Queen were away, Caocuo personally led his servants to the Jiang Mansion to help, helping with reception and management in the front hall and back yard.

This gave some comfort to the ministers who had surrendered to the King of Yue.

Prince Qi and Princess Princess also personally led their servants to help.

In the evening, after the mourners left, the three parties sat in the flower hall, feeling dazed. The person who had been chatting and laughing with them a few days ago was no longer there.

I couldn't help but sigh.

Prince Qi looked at his haggard son-in-law, comforted him with soft words, and asked him what his plans were. Jiang Wentao said that according to his father's last words, the whole family would carry the coffin back to their hometown.

Prince Qi nodded, "Then I will send the palace guards to escort you."

Caocuo declined on behalf of Jiang Wentao, "Mr. Jiang died because of my prince, and his funeral will be handled by our palace. And I have received a letter from the King of Yue..."