Under a chessboard under the mosquito breeding tree, Zhang Bailuozi pursed his lips and smiled, and the young man in his thirties on the other side read Baizi and put it down. Staring at the exquisite chessboard, the white dragon entrenched in the chessboard was surrounded by sunspots.

The young man said with a hint of regret: "Brother Zhang won by surprise, and the first son will sweep away the good situation of his brother." ”

Zhang Bai's face was bland, without the slightest joy of winning, he looked at the man opposite and said: "Brother Zhou, your layout is what you think, and if you lose, you will lose because you are too obsessed." If you calm down and take a look after the attack, it is impossible not to see the useless son on the edge. ”

Zhou Heng stared at a sunspot that was useless on the chessboard in the early days, and the sunspot was like a tasteless chicken rib. It is precisely because he didn't pay attention to the sunspot that he was dropped by Zhang Bai's divine hand, and not only the black chess came back from the dead, but also divided the entire country into a place, and it is suspected that the spark can start a prairie fire.

Zhou Heng, who was looking at the chessboard carefully, picked up the chess pieces and put them into Lou Zhong one by one. Zhang Bai helped pack up the chess pieces and suddenly said: "Brother Zhou, I can find that a big event is going to happen recently, and the court seems to be stable, but the real person does not seem stable. Your Majesty has been in court for several days in a row for only half an hour, especially today, when he only listened to the recitals of his colleagues, and he seemed absent-minded. ”

Suddenly, he held the chess pieces in his hand and stared at Zhang Bai with his eyes: "You mean Your Majesty's body." ”

Zhang Bai said: "Little brother and big brother Zhou have thought together, where is there any news about the prince." ”

Zhou Heng, who realized that what Zhang Bai said was not empty words, was unstable, if the emperor was as Zhang Bai guessed, he must have prepared for it. And the prince doesn't know why not only has he done nothing so far, but he has been the prince of the country as usual. Zhou Heng, who was the first strategist of the prince's disciples, was worried that if Zhang Bai's guess was correct, the consequences would be unimaginable. Most of the officials close to the crown prince were Wenchen, and many martial princes preferred to be close to the king of Qi.

Once there is a palace change, there is no military general who can support the scene, even if the prince holds the holy decree, what can he do, and countless edicts have been renamed throughout the ages. Who cares who is the emperor in the world, and who can see whose name is written on the edict.

Zhou Heng suddenly got up and said, "The prince has never mentioned this matter, and Brother Zhang is now following me into the palace to meet the prince." Whether it's true or not, you have to make countermeasures, Your Highness is confused. ”

To Zhou Heng's surprise, Zhang Bai suddenly asked a very secret question: "Does His Royal Highness the Crown Prince keep private soldiers in captivity?" ”

Regarding this matter, Zhou Heng stared at Zhang Bai with his eyes, and then Zhang Bai asked again: "Is there a great grandmaster under the prince's sect, or a grandmaster who can compete with Wu Yufeng, or is there a strategy against Xu Dian, the commander of the forbidden army." ”

asked three questions in a row, and asked every question at the important point. Zhou Heng stared at this champion who was seven or eight years younger, and these keys had been inquired about by the prince. The prince once denied keeping private soldiers in captivity, and only said one sentence: "Soldiers benefit the country and not selfishness." It was precisely this sentence that Zhou Heng became a strategist under the prince.

Without answering Zhang Bai's question, Zhou Heng said: "Leave the questions behind and enter the palace first." ”

The Qi Palace's mansion gathered together, and the people sitting down to the second-rank generals and down to the seventh-rank generals. There are also six protégés of various departments, and the attendance of Qi Wang Xiao Kun accompanies Zhou Jin. The next rank of the army is Zhao Chong, and the commander of the patrol battalion Cao Shengping, there are more than 20 military generals, and the civil officials are headed by the Ministry of Industry.

For the first time since the return of Xiao Kun, the king of Qi, and the imprisonment of Wenzhou, the party of the king of Qi gathered together, and the situation was urgent, and many civil and military generals were worried, and what was even more curious was that there was an empty chair under the throne of Qi. This chair used to be the seat of the Tobe Shangshu, and although everyone sitting there had thoughts, they did not fight for it. Hubu Shangshu was the first to support King Qi, and he was the one who contributed the most. Now that there is an accident and beheading, it can be said that one of King Qi's arms has been cut off. Now that this chair is empty, King Qi has not let Zhao Chong, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, sit alive and wait for Zhao Chong.

Zhao Chong asked, "What's the matter with Your Highness, you are so anxious." ”

King Qi said calmly: "Wait for someone to come." ”

In front of everyone, an old man slowly walked in from outside the hall, and the old man walked into the hall, and the generals led by Zhao Chong got up one after another, respectfully saluting with the highest standard of etiquette in the army. This old man, His Majesty the Emperor, has a decree that a non-state-owned war can not be discussed in the court, and he enjoys the highest honor of a country.

The sound was like thunder: "The last general will see the big handsome." Although the emperor canonized the highest Sima in a country's army, many generals still liked to call this old man a big handsome.

Lin Xie nodded to Zhao Chong and other generals, then turned to look at the Ministry of Industry Shangshu and nodded, dragging his back and sitting at the seat under King Qi. There was no extra language but to say, "Consult with you, and leave me alone as an old man." ”

King Qi got up and bowed to Lin Xie: "Uncle." Then he said to Zhou Jin: "I can say it." ”

Zhou Jin glanced at King Qi and walked to the center and said, "My lords, I still have some understanding of what has happened in the palace recently. Commander Xu was dismissed and the commander was replaced. Now the palace is more rigorous than when Xu was on guard, and His Majesty rarely discusses matters in the court. There is a taboo thought below, and I believe that all of you here have also thought of it. ”

Zhao Chong's eyes changed suddenly, staring at Zhou Jin, turned to look at King Qi and Lin Xie, and said, "Zhou Jin, you mean Your Majesty." ”

The more than 20 civil ministers and military generals sitting here looked at the King of Qi, and so far the emperor has only handed over the crown prince to the state instead of passing on the throne. No one knew about the emperor's illness, and no one explored this issue from the superficial signs, and before that, the military generals who were sitting in Wenchen were mostly thinking about how to overthrow the crown prince and support the king of Qi. But now the difference is not just to fight with the prince, but to tie his head to the waistband of his trousers to do the last struggle.

To Zhou Jin's surprise, King Qi actually nodded and said directly: "General Zhao is right, this king learned that his father was critically ill three days ago. The Imperial Medical Office has been confirmed, and the prince on duty in his father's palace has seen his father hand over a holy decree to the national teacher. ”

Suddenly, most of the generals got up one after another, and the Ministry of Industry Shangshu looked at King Qi and said, "Does Your Highness really have to take any step?" ”

King Qi's eyes were extremely domineering and stared at the Ministry of Works: "Is Aiqing afraid, this king is not afraid to tell you now." Once the news of his father's death came out, what was the first thing the prince did. ”

Cao Shengping, the patrol battalion, said without taboo: "Block the palace gate, close the Taiping City, and then announce it to the world." ”

Zhou Jin stood beside King Qi and said, "General Cao is right, once this happens, His Highness will have no chance. Commander Xu was loyal, and His Majesty would not remove an assassin from his official position, so he would give the new emperor a chance. Xu Dian does not participate in party struggles, and his forbidden army only obeys His Majesty's orders. If General Cao received orders from His Majesty, would General Cao dare to control Taiping City before the forbidden army. ”

As soon as these words came out, Cao Shengping couldn't help but clench his fists, and Zhao Chong glanced at Lin Xie, as long as this old man was there, it seemed that this matter had been half successful. Without waiting for Cao Shengping to speak, Zhao Chong got up and said, "Your Highness, the 30,000 troops of the Taiping East Camp can listen to His Highness's orders at any time." ”

King Qi couldn't help but glance at Zhao Chong again, and mobilized an army of 30,000 as a last resort. But it is not easy to mobilize the Taiping East Camp, and without the emperor Tiger Fu is a rebellion. The king of Qi set his sights on Cao Shengping, and the coup d'état was far less important than the patrol battalion. As long as the patrol battalion controls the entire Taiping City before the forbidden army, the big thing will be completed, no matter how much movement the prince's side has, as long as the Taiping City cannot get out, Taiping City has also advanced Taiping City, and the three thousand private troops under his command are enough.

Cao Shengping clenched his fists tightly and did not reply for a long time, and the King of Qi turned his back to many Wenchen generals and said: "If there are still repentants who can leave now, just act as if they have heard nothing here and know nothing." ”

There was silence in the lobby, and no one answered for a long time. Only Zhao Chong's eyes were blazing, and the rest of them were silent. Lin Xie got up slowly and only said, "His Royal Highness King Qi has thought about it." ”

King Qi replied without the slightest hesitation: "I think about it, just half a month later, regardless of whether my father has a will or not." ”

Hearing King Qi's reply, Lin Xie got up, took a tiger talisman from his waist and put it on the table, and strode away, Zhou Jin was silent. King Qi has been thinking about this matter for a long time and has been waiting for an opportunity. The Wenzhou incident has now seemed to be the king of Qi step by step, and the power of the real country has gradually lost from his hands. The power of the crown prince gradually rose, just as when he returned from Beijing and became the prince in charge of the military and politics alone.

Now that the crown prince is in the limelight, it is impossible to get the favor of his father. King Qi turned his back to him and didn't say a word, and Zhao Chong kept agitating and only a few people responded. After a long time of noise, a fourth-grade military general bowfully said: "It is a big crime for His Highness to force the palace to rebel, and he will quit in the end." ”

From the beginning to the end, King Qi never said a word, and in the end, there were only seventeen of the more than twenty people. Zhao Chong said anxiously: "Your Highness, do you have something to say?" ”

King Qi never spoke, until a person walked all the way into the lobby from outside the courtyard gate, and this person was extremely unfamiliar to everyone present. Covered in blood, a thin knife in his hand made people chill, King Qi turned around and said indifferently: "Did you kill it?" ”

Wu Yufeng, who came, said: "Back to Your Highness, General Han, the first to leave the palace, has been killed. ”

The people who stayed behind looked at the thin knife and was still dripping blood, although General Han was only a fourth-rank martial arts general, and the person in front of him was only splashed with blood and was not injured. It seems that killing a General Han is as easy as an eagle catching a chicken, and it is not a big deal.

King Qi's words made everyone feel cold: "Zhou Jin told Lao Wu the names of the people who left. ”

Zhao Chong, who had experienced a hundred battles, stared at King Qi and said the names from Zhou Jin's mouth, as if they were all dead people's names. Until Wu Yufeng's departure, the names in the lobby were still echoing in his ears, and King Qi said: "Zhao Chong's tiger talisman is available. ”

Zhao Chong immediately took the tiger talisman and said, "Available." ”

"Cao Shengping gives you half a month to control Taiping City, and before the forbidden army, you will listen to the order to block Taiping City, and no one will be allowed to enter or leave Taiping, and whoever enters Taiping City has full authority to inform Zhou Jin that there must be no mistake." The expression is domineering.

One by one, the general ordered to turn to the Ministry of Industry Shangshu and said: "From now on, anyone in the crown prince will immediately report to Zhou Jin without any mistakes." ”

The King of Qi who walked down from the battlefield had an irresistible momentum, and many civil officials took a stand at the orders of the King of Qi. In the lobby, only Zhou Jin, the strategist of Xiao Kun, the king of Qi, was left, and Zhou Jin handed over a list and said: "These people are all the prince's sworn friends, and they draw circles. ”

King Qi only said one word: "Kill." ”

Zhou Jin continued: "Generals and ministers. ”

King Qi did not hesitate: "Send someone to look at the family in Taiping City, don't be afraid of being discovered, some people can be above board." ”

Holding the list, he said, "Yes." ”

In the lobby, King Qi sat alone, as if waiting for that day to come.