country

Spring is coming, but it's cold and rainy.

Sitting in the carriage, looking through the window, looking at the spring outside, although the world has turned from cold winter to happy spring, Kyoto has once again fallen into the cold winter of human nature.

The pattering rain has not stopped since Xue Poye left Hangzhou for two consecutive days, and the small rivers and streams by the roadside are also full of water.

Ximen Leizang and other Habayashi guards were all wearing coir raincoats and riding fast horses, protecting the surroundings of the carriage.

The capital is just ahead, and Xue Poye can even see the outline of the city wall.

"Woooooo...!"

A burst of majestic and powerful horn sounds suddenly sounded between heaven and earth. This kind of horn sound made Xue Poye instantly think of the scene of soldiers counting on the battlefield. The rainy weather was quiet and gloomy, but the real horn sound broke in an instant. Such tranquility.

"What sound?" Little Stone panicked.

Xue Poye frowned, and Ximen Lei Zang had already approached: "My lord, no, there is an army!"

"Army?" Xue Poye was shocked.

Soon, they heard the sound of thunder coming from behind. Gold and iron horses, with horns bursting, seemed to be galloping thousands of troops.

"Get out of the way first." Xue Poye took the little stone out of the sedan chair, waved his hands, and led more than a dozen subordinates to leave the wide avenue quickly, and approached the thorny forest beside the road. There was a piece of mud there, but this At the same time, Xue Poye and the others didn't care whether the ground was soft or hard, so they forced the horses and carts into the thorn forest.

A black dragon-like army appeared amidst bursts of horns, moving quickly towards Kyoto.

This army was all green armor and blue helmets, with white ribbons tied on the tassels of the helmets, and the white ribbons fluttered. The heavily armed soldiers rushed towards the capital in an orderly and murderous manner.

Like his subordinates, Xue Poye's eyes were wide open, and he couldn't believe the scene before him.

Anyone who knows the military affairs of Great Chu understands that no one can mobilize such a huge army without the warrant of the Privy Council and the Tiger Talisman held by His Majesty the Emperor himself.

Could it be that this is the army dispatched by His Majesty the Emperor to Kyoto?

"My lord!" Ximen Lei Zang said in a low voice, "This is the army of the Nanlin Camp."

"Nanlin Camp?" Xue Poye frowned, and immediately thought that the Nanlin Camp was an army controlled by the Ye family, and they were loyal to His Majesty the Emperor on the surface, but in fact they were loyal to the Fourth Prince Liu Zifu.

Xue Poye's hands were cold for a while, as if he had a premonition of something.

The wet mud was dripping, and the hooves sounded like thunder. The already muddy avenue had been trampled and crushed by the galloping horses, and then kicked up again, muddy everywhere.

The Nanlin army with green armor and helmets stepped on the muddy avenue, passing through Xue Poye's eyes one after another, at a steady speed, tacitly and quickly, swimming like a black dragon.

The flags are fluttering, most of which are written with words such as "Chu" and "Nanlin", and the flags are fluttering in the wind.

The three major capital garrisons of Dachu are equipped with the most elite weapons and a large number of horses that are scarce in Dachu. Nearly a thousand cavalry rushed in front of this army, followed by a large number of infantry.

The old soldiers of the infantry, the archers are sandwiched between the cavalry and the spearmen. They carry longbows on their backs, which are much easier than the long spears held by the spearmen. However, the spearmen are not the most tired. The last ones are the sword soldiers with swords and shields , the four major arms are in order, rolling forward like waves.

This is actually an army of over ten thousand people. According to the lowest estimate, there are more than 5000 people.

Xue Poye's face was pale, he looked at his subordinates, they were all dumbfounded, even Xiao Shitou was terrified.

This is the first time Xue Poye has actually seen the so-called thousands of troops. This kind of aura of thunder and thunder on the ground made him understand why people always like to use "thousands of troops" to describe the so-called aura.

……

……

On March 18th, [-]th year of Dachu Deqing, nine days before Xue Poye returned to Kyoto, the capital was shrouded in a dark cloud. The common people may just feel that the security of the capital has become stricter, and the ghosts of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Kyoto Prefecture It started to move around in every corner of the capital again, vaguely returning to the period when the two princes fought each other a few months ago, but ordinary people don't know the reason for the cloudy clouds.

Not only ordinary people don't know, even ordinary officials can't figure out the reason. They are just worried about their own future and destiny, maybe it's another large-scale purge of officials.

Only a very small group of people who were deep in the palace and close to the highest authority vaguely understood what happened.

The assassination of His Majesty the Emperor seemed to be nothing at the time, but he was actually poisoned. A few days ago, the poison was so severe that he vomited blood and fell into a coma twice in the court. All the officials knew about it. met their emperor.

In the emperor's Qianqing Palace, the imperial doctors who have undergone numerous inspections come and go, no one knows what their emperor is like, and these imperial doctors can't release the news. The illness was discussed in a small room, and the decree passed down by the Empress Dowager was unspoken, but the meaning was obvious. If His Majesty had something to do, then more than 20 imperial doctors in the Qianqing Palace would accompany His Majesty to ascend to heaven.

According to the practice of the Great Chu Dynasty, when the emperor was ill, the capital was under martial law. Once it was dark, no one was allowed to walk on the streets unless there was a document signed by the government office of the capital.

Stable, everything should be stable.

Of course, Lord Hou Jingzonghou of the four-door admiral's mansion shoulders important responsibilities. This is a very strange yamen, and its importance is not obvious in normal times.

When the country is prosperous, the people are safe and the monarch is holy, this yamen may not have any important errands for more than ten years. In the words of those who violate taboos in private, the four-door admiral's yamen is just a watchdog-like yamen, and the four-door admiral is just a watchdog. The leader of the door dogs.

However, once there is a change in the capital, the four-door admiral's mansion is the most critical yamen. Without them guarding the gate, who can guarantee that the threat from outside will not deal a fatal blow to the capital.

His Majesty the Emperor is seriously ill, and the undercurrents are surging in Kyoto. The ghosts and purple clothes of the Kyoto Prefecture and the Metropolitan Procuratorate are doing their best to stabilize the situation in Kyoto, using all means, bright and dark, to kill any changes in the bud, and The four gates of the admiral's mansion are heavily guarded by the four gates of the capital. According to Hou Jingzong's words, even if the gates are pushed, corpses must be used to block any rebels who dare to break into the capital.

No one doubted Xuanyuan Chou's loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor. The Kyoto garrison under his single-handed control was also fully alert at this time, with heavy troops surrounding the city, as if they were facing an enemy.

Regardless of whether there will be a so-called mutiny or not, the people with these responsibilities must do their own errands well.

In the early morning of March 18th, [-], the nobles with eyes in the Qianqing Palace finally understood one thing. The generation of emperors of the Great Chu Kingdom, the cold and talented Emperor Deqing, had many unfinished business. Things go quietly.

This is of course a major event that can shake the world, but the spread of this event is only very effectively controlled in the eyes and ears of a very limited number of nobles in the palace.

Everyone knows that once outside forces confirm that His Majesty the Emperor has passed away at this time, the disputes that should have and should not have come up like a flood of beasts in an instant.

There is no doubt that the lack of dragons will only be the source of chaos. In this case, it is necessary to determine a new leader, a new Great Chu Emperor.

In an extraordinary period, the Empress Dowager stamped the emperor's jade seal on an imperial edict. This is a very special edict, and among the few edicts, there are only two meanings.

One, the prince who was imprisoned was released from house arrest for a while.

Second, if there is any change in the edict of His Majesty the Emperor, the crown prince will ascend the throne, and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty have refuted it, punishing them in the name of a rebellious party, and punishing the nine princes.

Family.

This was the edict made by the Queen Mother on the night of His Majesty's death, so His Highness the Crown Prince was also released that night, the tolerant Prince. The party also ascended from hell to heaven at this moment. Immediately after he died, with the support of the Empress Dowager, he summoned the academicians Lan Wuqing and Shu Zheng of the Imperial Academy, the four admirals Hou Jingzong, the guard of the capital Xuanyuan Qiu, the prefect of the capital Wei Shantai, and the imperial envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate Li Zifu. Waiting for a group of people with real power in Kyoto to give a brief explanation.

These people vaguely knew about the death of His Majesty the Emperor, but the matter was very vague. So far, there has been no news of His Majesty's death in the palace. This time the summoning was jointly called by the Queen Mother and the Crown Prince. However, this group of people is still a controllable force. Under the changes in the capital, if the prince wants to be as stable as Mount Tai, these people have to be gathered.

Li Zifu is the Royal Envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Everyone knows that he is the closest subject of the Empress Dowager, and also the most loyal servant of the Empress Dowager. The two major secret service agencies under him, the First Iron Battalion and the Second Iron Battalion, were killed in an instant on this day. He became a subordinate of the prince.

Lan Wuqing and Shu Zheng, the most prestigious and influential figures among the civil servants of the Great Chu, control the direction of public opinion in Kyoto.

As for Hou Jingzong, the most important four-door admiral at this time, the capital is guarding Xuanyuan Qiu. Before His Majesty the Emperor was alive, he swore allegiance to the Emperor to the death. Now the Empress Dowager can take out the Emperor's Edict with the jade seal, no matter how the Emperor's Majesty is now. His Majesty's mother, has enough qualifications and influence to make them swear allegiance.

It's just that there are two odd numbers that make the queen mother very unhappy and the prince very unhappy.

Tan Ziqing, the censor of the left capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Teng Xifeng, the general guard of the Yubayashi Battalion!

Everyone knows that these two people are in control of the two most terrifying forces in Kyoto, but after His Majesty the Emperor began to vomit blood, the two ministers of the country unexpectedly fell ill at the same time. According to the rumors, The two adults saw that His Majesty's dragon body was weakened, and they were so sad that they hurt their bodies. They were bedridden, and it seemed that they couldn't even stand up.

Naturally, it is impossible to hide this kind of nonsense that even children don't believe, from the queen mother and prince.

Although very angry, at this time, the queen mother and the prince did not react too much, they just sent people to the mansion to greet them on their behalf.

When the overall situation is certain, it will not be too late to clean up these old guys!

Seeing that it will not take a few days, when all the situation in the capital is under control and there will be no accidents, the queen mother will tell the world that Emperor Deqing of Chu was overworked and died, and the crown prince will succeed him.

The queen mother is mature and prudent, and the prince is even more energetic.

Although Lan Wuqing and other officials have their own concerns in their hearts, and even some officials feel that the prince's temperament is really unworthy of being a king, but firstly, they have the support of the Queen Mother, and secondly, for the stability of the Great Chu Kingdom, the officials have no choice but to think in their hearts. In the depths, he forced himself to accept this decision that was about to become a reality.

Even though Prince Fu's team is now weak after fighting with Prince Yin, although Prince Fu intends to cause some trouble at this moment, the Queen Mother presides over it. The overall situation was almost stable. Although Prince Fu was extremely annoyed, at this moment, he did not dare to make trouble.

"The crown prince is a worthless man." Prince Fu always thought this way: "I will deal with him after the queen mother ascends to heaven."

This is the deepest idea of ​​Prince Fu. In his opinion, the prince's pig brain is no match for him in the secret fight for wisdom. The conspiracy methods are not his opponent. In the open, at least he still has the Ye family's [-] Nanlin army behind him. Well, if the prince wants to attack him in the open, he has to weigh it.

But Prince Fu seems to have underestimated his elder brother. Although his elder brother may not be very smart, his stupidity can make him do many unexpected cruel things.

On March 18, 22th year of Dachu Deqing, in the seemingly peaceful capital, in the sacred and majestic palace, besides the emperor Sheng Lian being put into the dragon coffin, a shocking thing happened.

In the middle of the night that day, Xin'an Palace suddenly broke into more than a dozen first-class assassins, intending to assassinate the fourth prince Liu Zifu, kill more than ten maidservants and eunuchs, and even set fire to Xin'an Palace. Some of the assassins, and the rest of the assassins escaped under heavy pursuit.

After extinguishing the fire in Xin'an Palace, people discovered that the fourth prince Liu Zifu who lived in Xin'an Palace had disappeared, but in the fourth prince's bedroom, a large white silk was hung on the wall with a sentence written on it "The prince is not benevolent, I am not righteous." This is a very quack-like sentence, but the content on this pair of white silk quickly spread throughout the palace, so everyone vaguely knew that this assassination operation is likely to happen five days later. The work of the prince who is about to ascend the throne.

This is of course just a private rumor.

The prince even went to inspect the Xin'an Palace in person that night, leading a large number of soldiers, saying that he wanted to ensure the safety of the fourth prince, but he searched the Xin'an Palace, but did not find a hair of the fourth prince, so the prince smashed several pieces at hand Antique names. Utensils.

Later that night, the purple clothes of the Kyoto Prefecture began to appear in every corner of the capital. They were obviously ordered by Li Zifu to find the whereabouts of the fourth prince for the prince.

The prince is stupid, but the queen mother is not.

In the Compassion Palace, the prince was slapped more than a dozen times by the queen mother. The old man was out of breath, but he couldn't suppress the disappointment in his heart, and kept saying "stupid, stupid, stupid"!

On March 18, 23th year of Dachu Deqing, two days before Xue Poye returned to Beijing, Japan issued an order in the name of the Empress Dowager, announcing the decree of Emperor Deqing's death and the date of the establishment of a new emperor.

According to the royal rules of Dachu, when the emperor dies, he should be held in a crystal ice coffin for half a month, and then a national funeral will be held amidst the grief of the whole country, and the emperor will be sent to the imperial mausoleum.

However, Shangshufang received three urgent letters at the same time this day, namely the papers submitted by Ye Guogong, Liu Guogong, and the governor of Mozhou, which is the nearest to the capital.

The content in the booklet is surprisingly consistent, all asking why the prince sent someone to assassinate the fourth prince.The book claims that the four princes are benevolent, filial and righteous, and they are people of high morals, yet they are treated so unfairly by the prince.The book seems to be pleading, but actually forces the court to come up with an explanation, asking the queen mother to punish the prince, and the officials to meet in court to choose another king.

The queen mother was keenly aware of the huge crisis facing Kyoto.

The three great royal families followed the founding of Chuhou, conquered the world from the dragon, and obtained the throne and power they deserved after the founding of the country. The royal family of Chu has always included women as concubines in the three major royal families to increase the closeness between the royal family and the three major royal families.

But in the past hundred years, with the progress of time, the royal family suddenly felt uneasy. They suddenly realized that although they were the highest ethnic group in Dachu and the nobles at the top of the tower, their own safety and decision-making sometimes depended on Under the influence of the three royal families, there were ups and downs.Perhaps intentionally or unintentionally, the influence of the three royal families on the royal family has exceeded the limit of the royal family's tolerance.

So starting from Emperor Yangwu, the royal family began to secretly weaken the influence of the three major royal families. The power was greatly weakened and controlled, and Emperor Deqing even put aside the nominal connection between the three major garrison troops in Kyoto and the three royal families.

The highest commander of the Shenwu Camp is General Hu Xiang, the highest commander of the Nanlin Camp is General Huyi, and the highest commander of the Beilin Camp is General Hu Li. The three major generals used to be served by family members of the three royal families, and even the commanders under their jurisdiction were also members of the royal family. However, Emperor Deqing ascended and descended secretly, pulling all the members of the royal family out of these official positions.

In addition, Emperor Deqing even reduced the number of elite soldiers. In the early days, the three major garrison armies added up to nearly 5000 troops. The battalion has less than 5000 people, and the Shenwu Battalion has more than 7 people. The three armies add up to an army of nearly [-] people.

Although heavy measures have been taken, the three royal families have never really let go of the real control over the three armies. They know that these three armies are the trump cards in their respective hands to ensure the prosperity of their families. Without them, the three royal families would not even be able to catch a piece of shit.

The royal family and the royal family acquiesced to this tacit situation, but deep down in the royal family's heart, there was always a day when they thought about eradicating the three major royal families in one fell swoop, while the three major royal families checked and balanced each other but confronted the royal family interdependently.

This time, under the seemingly peaceful capital, there were turbulent waves. Because of the assassination of the fourth prince, the prince, a stupid guy, finally turned the nightmare that the royal family had worried about for a long time into a reality that was about to happen.

The Empress Dowager knew very well that the fourth prince must have fled the capital, and the three proposals presented must have been discussed by them, and they issued a loud and loud warning to the court in the form of forcing a palace.

This storm is about to come, and the Empress Dowager and her courtiers understand that at this moment, the news of His Majesty's death cannot be announced to the world, so as not to cause greater turmoil.

Less than two hours after receiving the three papers, the four gates of the capital pressed on, and the garrison stood ready. The Metropolitan Procuratorate sent spies to each state, ordering each state to be ready to serve the king at any time.