Longevity: Never leave the mountain until you are invincible

In the sixth year of Chengwu, August 2.

Duke Weiyuan quelled the rebellion in Jiangzhou Prefecture and other places, suppressed the disaster, recovered lost territory, captured hundreds of thousands of rebels, and the news of victory was frequently reported, which made the people cheer.

But.

The atmosphere in the court of Dayan was a bit strange, and the reason was the reward for Duke Weiyuan.

Duke Weiyuan was already a duke, and if the title was to move up one step, there was only one option left.

King of the opposite sex.

But everyone knew that Emperor Chengwu could not make Duke Weiyuan the king of the opposite sex. The disaster of the vassal kings had not been resolved, and the threats of King Kang and King Jin were still imminent.

How could Emperor Chengwu repeat the same mistake?

However, Duke Weiyuan had now quelled the rebellion in the south, and had made great contributions to the country, so it was impossible not to reward him, which led to the strange atmosphere in the court of Dayan now.

There was a rumor in the imperial capital that when Duke Weiyuan returned to the court, Emperor Chengwu would definitely make him a king to reward him for his merits in saving the country from collapse.

This rumor became more and more popular and became very popular in the imperial capital.

"Duke Weiyuan has quelled rebellions several times and trained several warlike armies such as the Weiyuan Army. His military exploits are outstanding. He will definitely be made a king when he returns to the court this time."

Shopkeeper Zhu of the Yunxi Building next door spoke so confidently that those who didn't know him would think he was Emperor Chengwu.

"Your Majesty intends to reduce the power of the vassal states and it is impossible to allow anyone to be made a king again."

Li San retorted.

The two argued endlessly, each with their own reasons, and asked Chu Chen a few questions from time to time.

Chu Chen did not express his opinion, but just laughed and laughed.

"Someone wants to put Duke Weiyuan on the fire."

Looking at Li San and the other person who were discussing heatedly, Chu Chen was thoughtful.

Li San and Zhu, the shopkeeper, were discussing this matter. It is conceivable that this news has spread widely in the imperial capital. It is not an exaggeration to say that everyone knows about it.

There must be someone behind this matter who is fanning the flames.

Emperor Chengwu, Prime Minister Xu, or a big shot who is not on good terms with Duke Weiyuan.

In fact, although Duke Weiyuan's contribution to suppressing the rebellion is great, it is far from the level of being crowned king. Emperor Chengwu can give Duke Weiyuan other rewards.

But as soon as this news came out, it was immediately different.

Duke Weiyuan was still suppressing the rebellion, holding 200,000 heavy troops. If he handled it improperly, it would be a shocking change.

With Duke Weiyuan's ability, plus 200,000 elite soldiers of Dayan and hundreds of thousands of rebel prisoners, the impact that can be caused is many times greater than that of King Kang and King Jin.

However.

This huge wave that may sweep across Dayan soon disappeared.

The eighth day of the sixth month in the sixth year of Chengwu.

A woman knocked on the drum of the imperial government office to complain about the Duke of Weiyuan's affair and then abandoned her.

This woman was the Duke of Weiyuan's first wife, Lin.

Several decades ago, Duke of Weiyuan was favored by Empress Dowager Zhang, who granted him a marriage with Zhang's legitimate daughter Zhang He, while Lin was divorced by Duke of Weiyuan and left the imperial capital alone.

When the Zhang family fell into decline, Zhang He was also implicated, divorced by Duke of Weiyuan, thrown into prison, and exiled to the border with all the Zhang clan members.

Although Duke of Weiyuan later took in several concubines, he never married again.

More than a decade ago, Duke of Weiyuan missed the past days, so he found Lin and had sex with her. As a result, Lin unexpectedly had a child.

Duke of Weiyuan seemed to be completely unaware of the situation and never asked about Lin and the child.

This is why Lin sued Duke of Weiyuan this time.

"As expected of Lord Weiyuan, he is still strong and capable of what ordinary people cannot do."

Li San said something sarcastic when he heard the news.

Manager Zhu was furious and started arguing with Li San again. He regarded Lord Weiyuan as an idol and would not tolerate insults from others.

"Lord Weiyuan is not an ordinary person!"

Chu Chen also sighed.

It was not because Lord Weiyuan was still able to have children in his fifties or sixties, but because of Lord Weiyuan's calculations.

Through the information collected by Jinyiwei and Jianghu Baixiaosheng, he learned that the news that was widely circulated in the imperial capital came from Lord Weiyuan.

Even the Lin family's lawsuit against Lord Weiyuan was probably arranged by Lord Weiyuan.

"The saint is self-defiled."

Chu Chen understood all of Lord Weiyuan's calculations as soon as he saw the information.

Lord Weiyuan knew that his reputation was too high and his achievements were too great to be feared by the emperor, which might cause Emperor Chengwu to be jealous.

Therefore, Duke Weiyuan took the initiative to stir up public opinion, and then let Lin sue him, smearing his reputation and ruining his reputation.

Doing so can not only eliminate Emperor Chengwu's fear of him, but also eliminate this public opinion storm.

As expected, after the news that Lin sued Duke Weiyuan reached Jiangzhou Prefecture, Duke Weiyuan wrote a letter of apology, saying that his personal morality was flawed and it was inconvenient for him to command the army again. He would return to the imperial capital, restrain himself, and go to the imperial capital government office to be questioned.

Before the letter of apology was sent to Emperor Chengwu, Emperor Chengwu immediately made a comment, rejecting Duke Weiyuan's request to go to the imperial capital government office to be questioned, but tacitly agreed that Duke Weiyuan would no longer command the army, and that the deputy general Zhao Ming'an would take over.

June 21, the sixth year of Chengwu.

Duke Weiyuan returned to the imperial capital with dozens of personal guards, went to the imperial government office, took Lin back to Duke Weiyuan's mansion, and made her his principal wife. Her son also became the legitimate son of Duke Weiyuan's mansion.

Since then, the dust has settled, and no one has mentioned the matter of Duke Weiyuan being crowned king.

In the seventh year of Chengwu, spring.

Zhao Ming'an led the army and returned to the court. The people of the imperial capital lined the streets to welcome him.

Chu Chen went to take a look. Zhao Ming'an was not very old, but he looked very good. His face was as handsome as a jade, and his eyes were as arrogant as an eagle, like a young general in white robes in a play.

Zhao Ming'an was a young general promoted by Duke Weiyuan, who was highly expected. Duke Weiyuan wanted to train him to be a new generation of leaders in the Great Yan army.

Zhao Ming'an lived up to Duke Weiyuan's training and showed his outstanding leadership ability.

When suppressing the rebellion of the Wusheng Sect, Zhao Ming'an led the army several times, went deep into the heartland of the Wusheng Sect, killed several high-ranking figures of the Wusheng Sect, and tens of thousands of Wusheng Sect followers.

Therefore, he has a great reputation in the Great Yan army.

After Duke Weiyuan returned to the imperial capital, Zhao Ming'an took over Duke Weiyuan, took control of the army to suppress the rebellion, and completed the final work of suppressing the rebellion with outstanding achievements.

As soon as he returned to the imperial capital, Emperor Chengwu summoned Zhao Ming'an and asked him what reward he wanted.

Zhao Ming'an asked for a reward: "I love beauties, please give me a few beauties as concubines."

"Heroes love beauties, this is a good story."

Emperor Chengwu smiled and agreed happily.

In addition to Zhao Ming'an, many generals who went with the army and soldiers of all levels of the Weiyuan Army received different rewards, either gold and silver, promotions, or beauties.

However, few people noticed that through this reward, many middle and high-level soldiers of the Weiyuan Army were transferred from the Weiyuan Army.

Emperor Chengwu also placed his own people in the Weiyuan Army, gradually erasing the mark of Duke Weiyuan in the Weiyuan Army.

The rumors in the imperial capital eventually affected Emperor Chengwu, and he began to suppress Duke Weiyuan.

Duke Weiyuan seemed to be unaware of all this and stayed in his mansion at ease.

Even if there were soldiers of the Weiyuan Army who came to the door, they were turned away.

Later, Duke Weiyuan took the initiative to resign from the position of Minister of War and the commander-in-chief of the Weiyuan Army, which he had been sitting for more than 30 years.

Emperor Chengwu refused, Duke Weiyuan asked again, and Emperor Chengwu had no choice but to agree.

Since then, Duke Weiyuan no longer had military power.