scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 423 Fatty's Poisonous Oath
"General Wu, please make a condition. As long as your condition is reasonable, my prince will definitely agree." Chen Renjie's attitude was very sincere, and he asked the heads of several Wu clans with a helpless expression: "What is our prince going to do? Are you willing to believe that our prince has no ambition to usurp the throne? Do you believe that our prince will not usurp this great Zhou country?"

Chen Renjie's words thoroughly questioned Wu Guogui, Wu Yingjing and other people, not to mention Wu Yingjing, Wu Yingchang brothers and Wu Guozheng who only like to chop people with knives, even Wu Guogui and Liu Zhifu who are quite educated also frowned, no Knowing what conditions should be put forward, Fatty Lu can prove that he has no ambition to usurp the throne, let alone what Fatty Lu should do, so that we can believe in Fatty Lu's ambitions for the Wu clan.

"Everyone, General Wu, why don't you talk?" Chen Renjie smiled, and smiled at Wu Guogui: "General President, in fact, as early as when the envoy left Beijing, my prince had predicted that you would not be able to answer this question, and he understood it earlier. You cannot answer the question why."

"What's the reason?" Wu Guogui asked in surprise.

"It's a very simple reason, just two words - selfishness!" Chen Renjie raised two fingers, and said firmly to Wu Guogui: "President General, you are because of selfishness, and you generals are also because of selfishness, so you all suspect Our lord intends to usurp the Great Zhou throne, so we don’t know what our lord should do, so you believe that our lord has no ambition to usurp the throne!"

"I have selfish intentions?" Wu Guogui began to rage.

"Of course there is! And it's not small!" Chen Renjie replied loudly: "Our prince sent envoys to contact the general several times, asking the general to carry out the imperial edict of Emperor Gao of the Great Zhou Dynasty, obey our prince's order, and accept our army's reorganization. General, you refused outright, and even accused the King of Yue of attempting to usurp the throne—General, are you really questioning Lord Lu so much because you are loyal to Emperor Gao, the Taizu of the Great Zhou Dynasty? No! General, you are afraid, afraid of being deprived of military power by Lord Lu, losing Power, I am even more afraid of being killed by Lord Lu, and the bird will be hidden, so I came up with such a shameless excuse!"

"Shameless excuse?!" Wu Guogui jumped up and roared, "Do you have the guts to say it again, I'm shameless?"

"Isn't it?" Chen Renjie asked without fear, "General, if you are really loyal to Emperor Taizu, why didn't you follow Emperor Taizu's will and obey King Lu's orders? Even if you really doubt Lord Lu is trying to usurp the throne in a certain dynasty, you can also follow the order of Emperor Honghua and join Honghua's army to kill the rebels in your mind! But you have not done this, neither follow the last emperor's edict nor obey the current order, What is the purpose of choosing to support the troops in Huguang, what is the purpose, besides wanting to keep your power and position as a general, and be your emperor in this three-acre land in the south of Huguang and Henan, what else can you do?"

"I'm trying to get rid of Guo Zhuangtu's thief, Lu Yifeng, that little bastard!" Wu Guogui yelled.

"General, please don't sound so nice, okay?" Chen Renjie replied loudly: "In your current situation, how can you eradicate Guo Zhuangtu's dog thief? Knowing that it can't be done, you can do it with tens of thousands of dollars. The lives of the generals of Zhou were a trifling matter, leaving hundreds of thousands of Jingxiang people in a sea of ​​misery, and the people were in dire straits! Whether you want to repay the great kindness of Emperor Taizu, or want to support your own self-respect, when you are the emperor of Huguang, you know it in your heart! "

"Bold thief, dare to insult my brother like this?" Wu Guozheng became furious, drew out his knife and shouted: "Don't think that you are sent by Lu Yifeng, we dare not kill you!"

"Three generals, you are not a good person! These are the exact words of Lord Lu!" Chen Renjie roared louder, pointing at Wu Yingjing and Wu Yingchang brothers: "You two generals are also selfish! It is also the exact words of Lord Lu! As members of the Wu family, you openly rebelled against the Honghua court because you were afraid of losing your glory, wealth, power and status, and you were even more afraid that Guo Zhuangtu's rebels would kill Wu's family members! For the second prince Revenge, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty punishes power and treachery, it is just an excuse for you to fight for power and profit, fig leaf!"

"All of you!" The more Chen Renjie spoke, the more excited he became, he circled Wu Guogui and the others with his hands, and said loudly: "The reason why you refuse to follow the late emperor's edict, and why you suspect that Lord Lu is trying to usurp the throne is also Your selfishness is causing trouble, and you judge others by yourself, so you doubt Lord Lu so much! You are afraid that Lord Lu will take over the power after he unifies the world, and will take away your glory, wealth, power and position, and you are even more afraid that Lord Lu will follow Guo Guo in order to usurp the throne. Zhuangtu will kill you all!"

"It is because of your selfishness that you would rather hide on this three-acre land in Huguang and be your soil emperor, and be your soil prince, than obey the heavens and obey others. If you don’t rescue the people of Li, you will lead the Zhou army to surrender to King Lu, and join hands with King Lu to eradicate Guo Zhuangtu’s rebels as soon as possible, and let the court of Great Zhou rule the country as soon as possible!”

All the generals of the Wu clan present drew their knives out, glared fiercely at Chen Renjie and gasped for breath, his face turned blue and white, but no one had the courage to use his knives. Wu Guogui was also so angry that the veins on his forehead twitched violently, pointing at Chen Renjie Roared his nose and asked, "Did you say these words yourself? Or did Lu Yifeng teach you to say them?"

"Of course it was Lord Lu who asked the envoy to say that." Chen Renjie was not stupid, he quickly pushed the blame on Fatty Lu, and said loudly: "Old General Wu Guogui, you don't need to be angry, and our Lord Lu didn't mean to blame you After all, people are not sages, everyone has more or less selfishness, Lord Lu does not blame you. Lord Lu also said that as long as the old general can rein in the precipice, you will learn to turn back when you are lost, follow the example of old general Ma Bao and General Wang Pingfan, and lead The Great Zhou army joined the Yue King's army and accepted the reorganization and command of Lord Lu, so Lord Lu can ignore the previous things, and you, old general, are still our Lord Lu's father-in-law!"

"What if I don't?" Wu Guogui asked rhetorically with a livid face.

"Then there is no other way." Chen Renjie spread his hands, and said slowly: "Lord Lu, you can justifiably declare that you, the old general, are rebellious against the Zhou Dynasty, and you are famous for sending troops to attack you. The original words of Lord Lu, He does not want to be your enemy, old general, from the bottom of his heart, but the late emperor ordered Lord Lu to crusade against all the traitors and traitors of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Life and death are all determined by King Lu on behalf of the late emperor. Since you refuse to surrender, old general, It also blocked the way for our army to go south to exterminate Guo Xia and Erni, so in order to fulfill the important task entrusted to us by the late emperor, our Prince Lu has no choice but to kill relatives righteously."

Speaking of this, Chen Renjie quickly added, "And there is one more thing, our Lord Lu has never been afraid of fighting the old general on the battlefield, and we have never been worried about forcing the old general to Guo Zhuangtu's side. , because after you join Guo Zhuangtu’s rebel army, you will immediately find out what a stupid choice you have made! For a rebel like Guo Zhuangtu, if you join forces with him, one plus one will be less than one!”

With a loud "Peng", Wu Guogui, who was extremely angry, kicked the table in front of him over and roared, "Little bastard dares to threaten me? Just let him come! I don't want a single helper, as long as I have a breath, You little bastard will never even think about stepping into Huguang!"

"General, have you thought it through?" Chen Renjie said in a deep voice: "If you are really determined to go to war with our prince, then you are rebellious by Da Zhou, and you will come to the Nine Springs in the future. What face do you have to meet Da Zhou?" Emperor Gao? Have you ever thought about how many soldiers of the Great Zhou will be killed on the battlefield, and how many loyal officials and good generals of the Great Zhou will be burdened with rebellious infamy? And how many relatives of the Emperor Taizu will be involved. Nephew, will you die innocently because of your whims? Are you worthy of Emperor Taizu by doing this?"

"I've thought it through very clearly!" Wu Guogui roared, "I did this to repay the great kindness of the late emperor and eradicate the real national traitors of the Great Zhou Dynasty! Come here, beat this emissary of Lu Yifeng's son to me with a stick. ...."

"Father! No—!"

A soft female voice with a crying voice suddenly came from the back hall, and then, a beautiful woman with tears on her face rushed out from the back hall, rushed to Wu Guogui, knelt down on her knees, and cried loudly: "Father, no, Qian!" Don't, my daughter begs you, you can't do it, you can't... He is your son-in-law, and also my...sister-in-law."

"Princess?!" Chen Renjie was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly knelt down to Wu Xiaotu, kowtowed and said, "Chen Renjie, a humble official from the palace of Yue Wang of the Great Zhou Dynasty, is a member of Cao Yuanwai, and greets the concubine of Yue Wang. The princess is a thousand years old and a thousand years old."

"Master Chen, please get up." Wu Xiaotu turned his head, his pretty face was full of tears, and asked with a sob: "Master Chen, is he alright?"

"My lord, my lord is very good." Chen Renjie replied: "When I was about to leave, my lord had entrusted me that if I was lucky enough to see my lord, I must report to my lord. My lord is thinking of you every day. , but the old general Wu blocked it, so the prince sent people to greet the empress several times, but failed, but please rest assured, the prince will definitely take you back no matter what method he uses."

After listening to Fatty Lu's original words told by Chen Renjie, Wu Xiaotu, who had been married to Fatty Lu for less than half a month after being married for four years, could not help but burst into tears, heartbroken, while Wu Guogui felt very sad and felt very sorry for his daughter, but Thinking of the viciousness and arrogance of his son-in-law, Wu Guogui became furious again, and he hardened his heart and shouted at his daughter: "What are you doing here? Go back to your room, get out!"

"No!" Wu Xiaotu, who has a gentle personality, disobeyed his strict father once in a while, knelt down next to Wu Guogui, pulled Wu Guogui's sleeves, and cried pear blossoms raining, begging: "Father, daughter, please, don't start a war with Yifeng!" , he is your son-in-law, your daughter’s husband-in-law, and your daughter’s relatives. When you go to war, no matter who wins and who loses, who lives and who dies, my daughter..., my daughter can’t survive.”

"Shut up! What do you know?" Wu Guogui roared with a stern face, "It's that Lu Yifeng kid who wants to fight Weifu, why is Weifu afraid of him?"

"Old General Wu, you can't say that." Chen Renjie hurriedly protested: "Our prince didn't want to fight with you, but just hoped that you would lead Huguang's Da Zhou army to join the Yue King's army and join forces to conquer Guo Zhuangtu's rebels. It was Old General Wu who refused to agree and insisted on blocking the main force of General Han Daren's Southern Expedition, so our lord was forced to choose to go to war against you as a last resort."

After speaking, Chen Renjie bowed deeply to Wu Guogui again, and said very sincerely: "Old General Wu, the words conveyed by the envoy on behalf of Prince Lu may be disrespectful and offensive, but our prince really has nothing to do. Guo Zhuangtu colluded with the Pingnan Palace, the mortal enemy of Emperor Gao of the Great Zhou Taizu, and indulged Shang Zhixin to stir up trouble on the Guangdong battlefield, brutally killing countless soldiers and civilians of the Great Zhou. Guo Zhuangtu sent reinforcements from Hunan to Guangdong to send Shang Zhixin children Helping the evil, our lord, in order to encircle Wei and save Zhao, sent General Han Daren's troops into the Pianyuan battlefield as soon as possible, and forced Guo Zhuangtu's children to return to the army to share the pressure on the Guangdong battlefield. As a last resort, we sent a small envoy to say these words. General Haihan."

Wu Guogui snorted loudly, his face remained ashen, but he stopped yelling and cursing.Seeing that Wu Guogui seemed to be a little loose, Chen Renjie hurriedly said again: "Old general, if your defense zone hadn't just happened to be stuck at the junction of the two rebels Guo Zhuangtu and Xia Guoxiang, our army would have received the best attack of seven inches when we sent troops from now on." As a result, in fact, our lord does not want to force the old general, and is willing to keep the status quo like this. I hope the old general can understand our lord's difficulties."

Wu Guogui kept silent with a stern face. The Wu army general Tao Jizhi, who was not a member of Wu's clan, who had been silent in the hall, suddenly spoke up and supported Chen Renjie: "Brother Guogui, Yifeng's words are reasonable, Han Daren's The team sent troops from our defense area to fight against Guo Zhuangtu's rebels. The effect is much better than detouring thousands of miles from Anhui. It can cut off the connection between Guo Zhuangtu and Xia Guoxiang, the two big thieves, and can also force Guo Zhuangtu The rebels stopped from the Guangdong battlefield, and they can indirectly support our friendly army on the Guangdong and Guangxi battlefields—the old general Zu Zeqing, but he was caught between Shang Zhixin Xiaoer and Guo Zhuangtu rebels. If we don’t help Yifeng Guo Zhuangtu was forced back from the Guangdong and Guangxi battlefields, and the old general's situation is not good."

"Shang Kexi is the deadly enemy of the late emperor, and old general Zu Zeqing is the direct cousin of the late emperor." Yang Laijia, another general who is not a member of the Wu family, also said: "If the old general Zu Zeqing loses troops because of lack of reinforcements, Guo Zhuangtu's rebels and Shang Kexi's father and son will not let him go, as well as the old general's family members and the generals of the Zhou Dynasty under the old general's command. It’s a lesson from the past.”

"Is it possible that I don't understand these principles?" Wu Guogui finally opened his mouth and said distressedly: "You think that I want to bear the eternal infamy of disobeying the Emperor Taizu's edict? But have you ever thought about it, if I lead the Great Zhou army in Huguang? After being merged into the Yue Palace, that little bastard Lu Yifeng suddenly had a different heart and tried to usurp the throne and establish himself as the emperor, so what can our Great Zhou army do to stop his rampant behavior and punish him, a new traitor?!"

"Regarding this, our lord has a solution." Chen Renjie interrupted suddenly, and said with a smile: "Old General Wu, every general Wu, and every general of Great Zhou, our lord knows that you can't think of a way, let our lord prove his He will definitely not try to usurp the throne, so our prince came up with a good way to prove that he will definitely not seek to usurp the throne, and he will definitely welcome Emperor Honghua back to Beijing, where he will establish his capital and proclaim himself emperor."

"What can he do?" Wu Guogui finally started to get excited, and quickly asked, "That little bastard, how can he ensure that he won't usurp the throne and proclaim himself emperor?"

"On the second day of the first lunar month of this year, our lord received two generals, Wu Zhen and Wang Jizhen, at the Desheng Gate in Beijing." Chen Renjie said slowly: "At that time, in order to make Wang Pingfan and Wang Fuchen, two important generals of the Zhou Dynasty, believe that our lord would not To usurp the throne and proclaim the emperor, our lord once swore a poisonous oath in front of them. Unless the Desheng Gate collapses on its own, our lord will never give birth to two hearts. under!"

"Today, the lord asked the emissary to reiterate this oath again. Unless the Desheng Gate collapses on its own and the Temple of Heaven bursts with water, the lord will never usurp the throne and proclaim himself emperor! If you violate this oath, you will be punished by heaven and earth, and there will be no place for you to die!"

"Fart!" Wu Guogui's nose was almost out of breath, and he yelled: "Little bastard farts his mother's dog, I can make a hundred such oaths a day! Wang Fuchen and Wang Pingfan two idiots believe it, but I don't believe it." !"

"Old general, why are you so anxious, the envoy hasn't finished talking yet?" Chen Renjie said with a smile: "Our prince also said, in order to prove his oath, you, old general, led Huguang's Da Zhou army into the Yue king. After the army, our lord will appoint you as the admiral of Fengtai, lead the army to station in Fengtai, supervise our lord on behalf of the heavens and Great Zhou Emperor Gao, and supervise whether our lord fulfills his oath."

"Admiral of Fengtai?" Wu Guogui's eyes lit up, and he said in his heart: "If this is the case, I really don't have to worry about the little bastard being sorry for my adoptive father. If he dares to have a second heart, I will kill him with a little effort!"

"Lu Yifeng really said that?" Wu Guozheng, Wu Yingjing, and Wu Yingchang, the three Wu clan members were also very moved, and asked together: "If we merge into the Yue King Army, does he really appoint General Wu Guogui as Fengtai Admiral?"

"Old General Wu can go to Beijing first to serve as Admiral of Fengtai, and then all the generals will lead the team and join our army." Chen Renjie replied sincerely: "This is also the original words of Prince Lu."

The Wu family members and Huguang generals looked at each other, exchanged glances, and were very moved together. They said that in order to prove that he did not intend to take away the country of the old Wu family, Fatty Lu actually gave Wu the most important position in the defense of Gyeonggi. This is enough to prove that Fatty Lu really has no intention of usurping the throne - after all, since ancient times, no powerful minister who attempted to usurp the throne dared to hand over the defense of Gyeonggi to outsiders.

"Old General Wu, this is our lord's final limit." Chen Renjie cupped his hands to Wu Guogui again and said, "Old General Wu, in fact, our lord is very clear about the situation of your army. The generals of Zhou only received nine months of military pay in total. At the same time, because Ji Jishan camp was destroyed by Xia Guoxiang's rebels, the firearms of Zhou's army in Huguang were basically finished. If our prince wants to take Huguang by force, it is actually not difficult. No. Our lord just doesn’t want to fight a civil war, and doesn’t want the soldiers of the Great Zhou to kill each other, so we took the initiative to offer such a condition. If the old general still doesn’t agree, or wants to make progress, our lord has done his best, so we can only say to you Sorry."

Wu Guogui and all the generals in Huguang were silent, while Wu Xiaotu looked at Wu Guogui with tears in his eyes, his tearful eyes were full of pleading, Wu Guogui loved his daughter dearly, and considering the current situation of Wu Jun in Huguang could not tolerate being too tough, after thinking twice Finally, Wu Guogui gritted his teeth and asked the generals: "Brothers, all the generals of the Great Zhou Dynasty, do you believe me or not? Do you suspect that I fell for that bastard son-in-law and helped him seek to usurp the throne?"

"Of course I do." The generals in Huguang replied in unison, and Wu Yingjing, the traitorous nephew of the old man Wu, also said: "Brother Guogui, make up your mind. Move your mouth, how much glory and wealth you want! But you have never done this, we don't believe who you believe?"

"That's good!" Wu Guogui nodded vigorously, gritted his teeth and said, "Since you believe me, I will go to Beijing and personally supervise the little bastard Lu Yifeng to swear in front of the late emperor's spirit, and I will also be the admiral of Fengtai for him." If he fulfills his promise, you will lead the Huguang army to merge into the Yue Palace! If he breaks his promise and reneges on his promise, you don’t care about my life and death, and bring your brothers to fight with that little bastard Lu Yifeng!"

"Follow the general's order!" All the generals in Huguang clasped their fists together and agreed, while Wu Xiaotu wept with joy.

........................

Wu Guogui was finally moved by the nonsense of Chen Renjie, the gold medal diplomatic swindler of the Fat Army, and decided to take his family to the capital to meet Fatty Lu and supervise Fatty Lu. The old traitor supervised Fatty Lu to fulfill his oath.But what Wu Guogui never dreamed of was that when he was still packing his luggage and arranging the defense of Huguang after he left, Liar Chen had already secretly contacted the Fatty Army spies in Changde City at the request of Fatty Lu, and let the Fatty Army spies The news of the successful fraud was spread to the capital, and after Fatty Lu received the news, his first order was...

"Immediately!" Fatty Lu yelled while patting the Pinghuang Tuanlong case: "Immediately expedite it by eight hundred miles and send an order to Li Xiongfei in Jiujiang to let Li Xiongfei spread the news that Wu Guogui went to Beijing to negotiate and merge into our army, and must let Xia Guoxiang Know the cause and effect of this matter as soon as possible!"

"My lord, are you crazy?" Yao Qisheng exclaimed, "We finally let General Wu Guogui go north to negotiate. How can you let Prime Minister Xia know the news? What if Prime Minister Xia makes trouble?"

"What I want is Xia Guoxiang to make trouble! Huguang Wu Jun is stuck in his throat, and he dare not not make trouble!" Fatty Lu waved his hand and said with a smirk: "Huguang Wu Jun has at least 8 or [-] people, and there are a large number of Wu soldiers. Isn’t it a huge hidden danger that the clan members exist, and all of them are incorporated? I want Xia Guoxiang and Guo Zhuangtu to split them up quickly, and push those stubborn Wu clan members to the opposite of us! I only want Tao Jizhi and Liu Zhifu With Yang Laijia, who are not Wu clan generals who can be won, and Wu Yingjing and Wu Yingchang, who are the hardcore members of the old Wu family, what am I going to do? To cause trouble for myself?!"

Yao Qisheng, Zhu Fangdan and the others were stunned, and after a while they wiped off their cold sweat together, and said respectfully, "My lord is holy."

"Hurry up and have a discussion." Fatty Lu ordered again: "Let's discuss, what should we do, so that the Wu clan in Huguang suspects that Wu Guogui has betrayed the old Wu family, and is going to put my son-in-law on the throne and help him behind the scenes?" Xia Guoxiang and Guo Zhuangtu?"

(End of this chapter)