The dream of a lonely hero

Xun Yi said: "Your Majesty, you have said it too much! I am honored to be your Majesty's high regard. I think: First, Daliang (Kaifeng) has no mountains and rivers and has been a place of war since ancient times. It cannot be the capital of a country. During the Warring States Period, Qin attacked the capital of Wei, Daliang, and opened the Yellow River to flood Daliang City. As a result, the city was destroyed and Wei was destroyed. Luoyang, the Western Capital, is located in the "center of the world" and is surrounded by mountains. It has Mang Mountain on its back and Luo River in front. There is Chenggao in the east, Xiaohan in the west, Youyan in the north, and Yique in the south. "The mountains and rivers surround it and the terrain is the best in the world." It is indeed the home of emperors. Since the Qin Dynasty, Guangwu's Han, Cao's Wei, and Sima's Jin all established their capitals here. Second, the Liao Dynasty Khitan was established earlier than the Song Dynasty, and the degree of sinicization was very deep. Because of the customs, The territory is vast and the country is strong, and the soldiers are brave and good at fighting; they are by no means comparable to the Xiongnu in the Han Dynasty and the Turks in the Tang Dynasty. They can be neighbors but not enemies. 3. Your Majesty will collect the elite troops of each vassal state, control their money and grain, and dismiss the county magistrates and civil officials from the prefectures. However, the prefect is also the highest official in a state and still has absolute power in the jurisdiction. It is necessary to take away his power a little, and then appoint an official to jointly act with the prefect to manage the state affairs-"Xun Yi's profound knowledge and criticism of the current ills, Zhao Kuangyin casually praised him a few words, and said to the eunuch Han Shoujun: "Xun Yi, the recorder of the Imperial College, has been transferred to the Yanting Marquis's mansion as a direct lecturer. Shoujun will go to the Ministry of Personnel to handle the procedures tomorrow." Han Shoujun agreed. Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Dezhao chatted for a while and took Han Shoujun back to the palace.

That day, Yan Hou Zhao Dezhao, the lecturer Xun Yi, the secretary Fang Xun, and the brigade commander Yan Feng were discussing matters in the Yin'an Hall of the Hou Mansion. Fang Xun said, "Xun Xue Shi! I have a question that I don't understand. Please enlighten me, sir."

Xun Yi said, "Fang Si Zhi, please speak frankly."

Fang Xun went straight to the point and said, "The throne of the emperor has been passed down from father to son since ancient times. The Song Dynasty has been established for more than ten years. Your Highness, the Yan Hou, is the eldest son of the emperor, but the emperor has not yet appointed a prince. I am puzzled."

Xun Yi said, "Fang Si Zhi asked a good question. Looking back at the history of the Tang Dynasty since Zhu Wen usurped the throne, Since then, in the five dynasties of Liang, Tang, Jin, Han and Zhou in the Central Plains and the southern states, the throne was not passed down from father to son in many cases. Emperor Gaozu of Jin made his adult nephew the crown prince instead of his youngest son. The two generations of Wu State passed the throne from brother to brother. Ma Yin, the king of Chu, "left a will that his sons and brothers would succeed each other", but in the following 20 years, no one passed the throne from father to son according to the "father dies and son succeeds" rule. Qian Zuo, the king of Wuyue, made his younger brother succeed him. Gao Baorong, the king of Nanping, made his younger brother Gao Baoxu the crown prince when his three sons all came of age. Liu Yin of the Han Dynasty passed the throne to his brother instead of his son; the Empress Dowager of the Later Han Dynasty established her uncle and nephew instead of her son; Emperor Taizu Zhu Wen of the Liang Dynasty had six living sons, most of whom were adults, but he passed the throne to his adopted son. "

Fang Xun said: "Your Majesty, are you going to follow their example?"

Xun Yi did not answer him directly, saying: "It has been more than 50 years since Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty and the founding of the Song Dynasty. During these 50 years, the world was in chaos and wars were frequent. The dynasties changed like a revolving lantern, and the emperors were replaced every two or three years on average. These monarchs had to jump out of the rut of passing the throne from father to son for the sake of the eternal stability of the dynasty and the family to avoid the disaster of destroying the nest and destroying the eggs, and select outstanding children from the royal family as the crown prince. That was a chaotic and bad year. Now Your Majesty is about to wipe out the heroes and the world is in a state of peace. The external crisis of destroying the country and the family no longer exists. "

Yan Feng said anxiously: "Then why didn't Your Majesty enthrone the palaceNext is the crown prince? Have you ever seen a legitimate eldest son like your Highness in any dynasty? Both of your uncles have been promoted to princes, but your Highness has no official position or military position, not even a county duke or a county prince! Seeing that the Prince of Jin has grown up, will Your Majesty let it go? "

Xun Yi did not answer.

Fang Xun said: "Mr. Xun! At the beginning of the founding of the country, Your Majesty gave the prince of Jin an important position in order to stabilize the court and the royal family, so as to check and balance the arrogant soldiers and generals who boasted of their support. Now their military power has been removed, what is Your Majesty still hesitating about? "

Xun Yi said: "The competition between the royal family and the vassal states and the former powerful military officials has gradually come to an end, and the competition within the royal family is inevitable. "

Fang Xun tried to say: "Your Majesty should cut the Gordian knot quickly, and he will suffer if he does not make a decision. "

Xun Yi said: "This is just my arbitrary conjecture. God knows what Your Majesty is thinking! ”

Fang Xun said: "What should Your Highness Yanhou do?"

Xun Yi said: "Just wait and see how the court situation develops."

Yan Feng said passionately: "We can't just sit and wait for death. When the King of Jin is fully grown, even if the emperor passes the throne to Your Highness, how can Your Highness control him? We must do it once and for all. We must first join hands with the King of Fu to get rid of the King of Jin to eliminate future troubles!"

Zhao Dezhao remained silent, unable to bear the panic in his heart.

Xun Yi saw through his thoughts and said: "Don't worry, Your Highness! As the legitimate prince, you will have to face these things sooner or later and you cannot escape. Your Highness has no way out. You can only win and not lose. If you lose, you will be worse than ordinary people and will not even have the basic right to survive. ”

Zhao Dezhao calmed down and said, “The King of Jin and my family are blood relatives. What’s more, if one day the emperor knew that my family and the King of Jin were fighting openly and secretly——” He was so scared that his face turned pale and he couldn’t continue.

Xun Yi said, “Since ancient times, most disputes over the throne have come from within the royal family. Who is not a blood relative? The wise ruler of Tang Taizong killed his brother, how cruel! I am not teaching Your Highness to fight secretly with the King of Jin, wait and see how it develops in the future, and then make plans. ”

Yan Feng said, “I don’t agree with what you said. We should plan ahead. I think the Marquis of Yan should join hands with the King of Fu to deal with the King of Jin and cut him off before he is fully grown. ”

Xun Yi said: "What the commander of the Yan army said is not without reason, but I think it is not easy for the Marquis of Yan to be exposed too early. The Marquis of Yan should still lie low and bide his time, watching the fight between the King of Jin and the King of Fu, so as to reap the benefits of the fisherman. ”

Yan Feng said: "The King of Fu is far from being the opponent of the King of Jin. If the King of Jin wins and becomes stronger, how will the Marquis of Yan deal with it?"

Fang Xun interjected: "It is more difficult than easy. Mr. Xun should make plans early."

Xun Yi said carefully: "The Marquis of Yan must not step forward in any case, and should be cautious!"

Yan Feng said anxiously: "Yan Feng is willing to come forward to help the King of Fu move to the King of Jin, and say that it is Yan Feng's personal act, and will never implicate the Marquis of Yan!" Looking at Zhao Dezhao, the Marquis of Yan Ting. Zhao Dezhao paced back and forth in thought, and looked at Xun Yi for a moment. Xun Yi said: "That's good. Yan Feng must not tell Prince Fu that he had received instructions from Marquis Yan. ”

Yan Feng said: “Don’t worry, Mr. Xun!”

Zhao Dezhao reminded him again: "Remember, it was not my intention!"

Yan Feng said: "Your Highness! I will remember it. The King of Fu often summoned me to play Cuju, which shows some affection. It is not difficult to make him believe that it was all my personal work."

On this day, Li Weidong, the governor of Anguo, and Guo Jin, the commander of Xishan, returned to Beijing under the order to investigate the rebellion of Fu Yanqing, the governor of Weizhou. The emperor Zhao Kuangyin secretly summoned the two in a side hall, and Li Fu, the attendant (roughly equivalent to a secretary), stood beside them. Guo Jin said: "Your Majesty! I have found that Fu Yanqing did not rebel." Zhao Kuangyin turned to look at Li Weidong. Li Weidong said: "Your Majesty! I have not found any evidence of Fu Yanqing's rebellion." Guo Jin's answer was that Fu Yanqing did not rebel. Li Weidong's ambiguous answer "I did not find any evidence of Fu Yanqing's rebellion" implied that it was still unclear whether there was a rebellion. Zhao Kuangyin closed his eyes and thought.

Li Weidong continued, "But it is a fact that Fu Yanqing is stupid and ignorant, does not care about government affairs, neglects his duties, and is greedy for money."

Guo Jin said, "The greed for money is probably done by Fu Yanqing's subordinate Liu Siyu."

Li Weidong said, "Liu Siyu is Fu Yanqing's confidant. Liu Siyu is crazy about accumulating wealth. How could Fu Yanqing know nothing about it?"

Guo Jin said, "Where is the evidence?"

Li Weidong said, "Does this need evidence?"

Zhao Kuangyin was mentally exhausted and ordered Li and Guo to leave. Li Weidong and Guo Jin stayed in the capital for two days and returned to their respective places.

Li Fu, the attendant, saw that Zhao Kuangyin was sleepy and did not dare to disturb him. He wanted to quietly leave and moved slowly.

Zhao Kuangyin said: "Li Fu, what do you think of Fu Yanqing?"

Li Fu said: "Fu Yanqing is an important minister of the emperor, and I dare not act rashly."

Zhao Kuangyin knew that he had always been cautious and did not blame him, saying: "Li Aiqing, you are my close minister, don't worry!"

Li Fu said: "Fu Yanqing is a hero of the previous dynasty, good at leading troops and using troops. He defeated the enemy on the battlefield and won countless victories. He distributed all the generous rewards from the court to his officers and soldiers, and the soldiers were happy to die for him. Is this something a "greedy and profit-loving" person can do?"

Zhao Kuangyin's brows suddenly tightened, and Li Fu stopped talking. After a moment, Zhao Kuangyin said, "Go on, my dear minister."

Li Fu said, "The reason why Fu Yanqing ignored government affairs and accumulated wealth is exactly the same as Xiao He, the founding prime minister of the Han Dynasty, who damaged his reputation and was cursed by others. He used this to make his ambition clear and to show the emperor and the people of the world that he has no ambition at all and just loves money."

Zhao Kuangyin chanted Bai Juyi's poem: "Zhou Gong was afraid of rumors, Wang Mang was humble and did not usurp the throne. If he had died at the beginning, his life would have been... Who knows the truth?"

Li Fu said: "Your Majesty is wise! The bottom of the sea will eventually be revealed, but the heart of a person will never be known after death. Fu Yanqing is a big tree with deep roots. Whether he has rebellious intentions or not, he should not be neglected!"

Zhao Kuangyin said: "Li Fu drafted an edict: confer the title of Wei Wang Taishi Wei Bo Jiedushi Fu Yanqing as Zhongshu Ling and transferred to Fengxiang Prefecture Jiedushi, granting him the clothes and jade belt, and moving to Fengxiang Prefecture. After drafting the edict, go to Zhongshu Province to stamp it and issue it immediately."

Li Fu received the edict and left.

After receiving the edict, Wei Wang Taishi Fu Yanqing immediately left the capital for Fengxiang Prefecture, followed byLiu Siyu, who was dismissed from the post of the Central Gate Historian of Weizhou, and a dozen of his followers arrived in Xijing in just one day. It was already late, and they rested in the official pavilion of Xijing. Just as they were about to have dinner, the imperial edict from the capital arrived again, conferring the title of Fengxiang Prefecture Jiedushi, the Guardian of the Grand Tutor and the Minister of the Central Secretariat, the Acting Fengxiang Prefecture Yin, the Shangzhuguo Wei Wang Fu Yanqing Wu Wang, and the fief of 35,000 households, pardoning the nine deaths, the five deaths of his descendants, and the three deaths of his great-grandson. If he violated the common law, the authorities could not impose any responsibility. The oath was cast into an iron scroll, which was called the Iron Book Red Scroll.

The followers congratulated one after another: "Congratulations, Lord! Congratulations, Lord! The Emperor has granted the Lord a death-free card with an iron book and a promotion to the title of Prince of Wei and Prince of Wu, exempting the Lord from nine deaths, five deaths for his descendants, and three deaths for his great-grandchildren. Not to mention this dynasty, no one in all dynasties has ever received such an honor!"

Fu Yanqing smiled perfunctorily and asked Liu Siyu to give money to the followers. The followers happily left after receiving the money, and Liu Siyu stood aside. Fu Yanqing was more desolate than ever before. He took out a paper bag from his bosom, opened it, and poured the powder into the wine glass. Liu Siyu knelt down in a hurry and cried loudly: "Master, Master! No, no!" Fu Yanqing sat stiffly and looked down at him with desperate eyes. He looked at the "Iron Book and Red Scroll" on the table and smiled bitterly: "Musk deer died first because of the fragrance, and silkworms died early because of the silk. Who knew that this was a death warrant! A death warrant! If the king suspects his subjects, they will die. If I don't die, how can the government rest assured! How can my family, students and former officials live in peace!"

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