One

Besides, Yang Meng, the king of Linchuan, resented that the Yang regime had always been controlled by the Xu family and his son. His father is gone, his eldest brother and second brother are gone, and as Yang Xingmi's own son, he is worried about the future of the Yang family. Although the fourth brother was the emperor of Wu, the government was controlled by Xu Zhihe, and the Yang family's governance of Wu was getting weaker and weaker.

When Xu Zhihe disintegrated Xu Zhixun's military power, Yang Meng said in front of Yang Pu that Xu Zhihe's power was too great, and he was afraid that it would be unfavorable to Wu State, but the Manchu Dynasty was all Xu Zhihe's people, and Yang Pu could not do anything. In order to contain Xu Zhihe's influence, Yang Meng moved around, using Yang Xing's status as a close son to win over and lobby the ministers of the DPRK and China, especially the old ministers of the former dynasty. At this time, there was a border friction between Min and Southern Wu, and Xu Zhihe asked the general Jiang Yanhui to attack Jianzhou (present-day Jian'ou, Fujian) of Fujian as punishment. Jiang Yanhui is Yang Xingmi's son-in-law, and Yang Meng is a brother-in-law, the two have a good relationship, Yang Meng was very happy when he learned the news, he told Jiang Yanhui:

"Now Xu Zhihe is even more than Xu Wen, if this continues, Wu Guo will become his Xu Zhihe sooner or later."

"What is the best plan for the virtuous brother?" Jiang Yanhui asked.

"You must take Jianzhou, and then we will use Jianzhou as a base, and then contact the old Yang family to crusade against Xu Zhihe."

"Okay, the Xu father and son have been in power for many years, and I can't see it anymore."

But Yang Meng's actions were known to Song Qiqiu, and Song Qiqiu hurriedly told Xu Zhihe: "My lord, Jiang Yanhui's relationship with the Yang family is extraordinary, if he defeats Jianzhou, and then uses Jianzhou as a base to support Yang Meng, then the matter will be serious." Xu Zhihe heard Song Qiqiu say this, and felt that it was very reasonable, so he immediately ordered Jiang Yanhui to withdraw his troops on the grounds of reconciliation between Fujian and Wu, Jiang Yanhui had no choice but to withdraw his troops, and Yang Meng's plan failed.

But Yang Meng's behavior made Xu Zhihe very dissatisfied, and Xu Zhihe felt that there was an opposition force in the court that was about to move, which he could not accept. Therefore, he adopted Song Qiqiu's suggestion, and played Yang Pu to say that Yang Meng made weapons privately, formed a party for personal gain, and had the intention of plotting rebellion, and asked His Majesty to put the country first, abandon personal feelings, and punish the king of Linchuan. Yang Pu knew very well that this was a false accusation, and Xu Zhihe could only do as he said. But Yang Pu couldn't bear to let his brother fall into the hands of Xu Zhihe, so before issuing the order to arrest Yang Meng, he sent someone to secretly notify Yang Meng to let him escape. Yang Meng had no choice but to escape, but before he could leave the city gate, he was intercepted by Xu Zhihe's people, because Xu Zhihe had expected it. When Yang Meng was arrested, he looked up to the sky and sighed, "My Yang family is in danger, and Wu Guo is in danger!"

Xu Zhihe did not kill Yang Meng, after all, he was Yang Xing's secret son, and he asked Yang Pu to demote Yang Meng to the Duke of Liyang. In order to control him, Xu Zhihe imprisoned him in Hezhou (now Ma'anshan), and arranged for a military envoy named Wang Hong to bring 200 people to watch him day and night.

Two

Yang Meng was placed under house arrest by Xu Zhihe, his every move was monitored, when he drank, when he ate meat, and which woman he slept with at night Xu Zhihe was clear. When he learned that Xu Zhihe had been crowned king and was about to move the capital to Jinling, he was extremely angry, so he said to his subordinates that Xu Zhihe was "Sima Zhao's heart, and everyone knows it". His hatred for Xu Zhihe had reached its peak, and he felt that he could no longer sit still, so Yang Meng secretly discussed with his subordinates and wanted to unite with the old Yang clan to oppose Xu Zhihe together.

"I can't wait any longer, it is a matter of time before Xu Zhihe seizes power, instead of waiting to see him seize power, it is better to take the initiative now, even if it is not successful, let Xu Zhihe know that the Yang family is not unpopular."

"Lord Wang, we are being watched by him now, and it is difficult to get out!" The subordinate said.

"I have a way to do this, you just have to do what I say." Yang Meng said.

Yang Meng secretly prepared to escape, but on the surface, he pretended that everything was the same, and still drank, chatted, and hung out as before, in order to paralyze Wang Hong. On this day, Yang Meng felt that the opportunity was ripe, so he took the initiative to find Wang Hong to drink. Although Yang Meng was under house arrest, after all, he was the emperor's brother, and his identity was there, and Wang Hong was just a junior officer, he felt that the two had a huge difference in identity so he didn't want to go, but because of Yang Meng's insistence, Wang Hong finally went.

"During this time, thanks to Lord Wang, I was able to enjoy peace in peace, and I will do it first as a respect." Yang Meng said.

"Where does the prince say, the villain is just doing his duty." Wang Hong also did it after speaking.

"Speaking of dutifulness, Lord Wang really lives up to his name! I know everything about me, Lord Wang. ”

"Don't make fun of the villain, the villain is low-minded, he is completely acting on orders, and the villain has no personal grudge against the prince."

"Don't be nervous, I admire Lord Wang's loyalty, Lord Wang is a responsible man, it just so happens that the weather is pleasant today, I want to have a few drinks with Lord Wang, first, to express my gratitude to Lord Wang, and secondly, I also want to chat with Lord Wang."

"The prince's status is noble, but he is also a corporal of courtesy, and he does not oppress people with power, and the villain admires him." The two of them were polite to each other while drinking. Suddenly, Yang Meng turned to Wang Hong and said:

"Now that Xu Zhihe is the king of Qi, the capital of Wu will also be moved to Jinling, it seems that Xu Zhihe is not far away as the emperor, I am the son of the former king, but I am trapped here all day long and have nothing to do, how can I be worthy of the first king, how can I be worthy of the Yang family." After Yang Meng finished speaking, he slammed the wine glass on the ground, and the wine glass shattered to the ground. Yang Meng's move woke up Wang Hong, who was originally drunk, and he asked in surprise:

"Lord Wang, what are you doing here?"

Yang Meng said fiercely: "I won't continue to wait for death here, I have to leave here, I want everyone in the world to know Xu Zhihe's wolf ambitions." ”

Wang Hong said nervously: "Don't embarrass the villain, my duty is, unless there is an order from the king of Qi, I will not let the prince leave here." ”

"You really don't want to let it, don't forget, Xu Zhihe is the king, I am also the king, and I am still the emperor's brother, if you help the abuse so much, aren't you afraid that I will kill you?

"The villain only obeys the orders of the King of Qi, and other villains can't be the master." Wang Hong said without showing weakness at all.

"In that case, then the king is not welcome, on!" Yang Meng shouted, and a group of subordinates who had been hidden in advance came out with knives and surrounded Wang Hong.

"Now it's too late to know if you are lost, otherwise this king will not be soft today." Yang Meng stared at Wang Hong and said.

"Lord Wang," Wang Hong said, "unless I die, I will never let you go." ”

Yang Meng felt that it was futile to say more, so with a wave of his hand, a group of people slashed at Wang Hong. Wang Hong didn't notice Yang Meng's abnormality in advance, so he drank with Yang Meng alone, and everyone else was outside, so he was outnumbered and was soon killed by Yang Meng's men. Yang Meng rushed outside with people, and happened to run into a group of soldiers guarding outside. Yang Meng shouted:

"Wang Hong deceived his subordinates and deceived his superiors, and offended this king many times, this king has corrected him, who dares to be presumptuous again, he will be killed!"

The soldiers saw that Wang Hong was killed, and now the dragons were leaderless, and the other party was the emperor's brother after all, so no one dared to go up to stop him, so Yang Meng took the opportunity to rush out with people.

Three

After Yang Meng fled, he went straight to Luzhou (now Hefei) because there was Zhou Ben there. Zhou Ben is now the envoy of the Luzhou Festival, is the only remaining Yang general, Zhou Ben is loyal, has prestige in the army, Yang Longyan was alive, he was very important and trusting to Zhou Ben, Yang Meng defected to him at this time and considered it in advance.

Zhou Ben was both surprised and surprised when he heard Yang Meng coming, he felt that something might be wrong, so he hurriedly asked his son Zhou Zizuo to go out to greet him. Zhou Ben is old, and his son Zhou Zizuo usually handles daily affairs, but Zhou Zizuo has not experienced war, and he has no prestige in the army, and Zhou Ben has to be in charge of major events. When Zhou Zizuo saw that Yang Meng and his party were gray-headed and tired, and some people were still sticking to blood, and then thought that Yang Meng was under house arrest by Xu Zhihe in Hezhou, and appeared here at this time, he decided that Yang Meng was fleeing without permission, so he ordered Yang Meng and his party to be tied up. Yang Meng didn't expect to be treated like this, so he shouted to see Zhou Ben, Zhou Zizuo immediately went back to tell Zhou Ben, and Zhou Ben said after hearing it:

"That's our old master, hurry up and greet it."

Zhou Zizuo said: "Dad, they fled without permission, you can't see it, otherwise you will fall into the hands of others." ”

Zhou Ben was angry when he heard it and said: "Nonsense, the old master is here, how can you not see it!" ”

"But Dad, he killed the defenders and ran out without permission, if Xu Zhihe of Jinling knew about it, he would not be able to spare him, if we took him in privately, we would definitely blame the blame on us at that time."

Zhou Ben reprimanded: ", how can you see the old master in trouble and ignore it, not to mention that the Xu family has been in power for many years, and the old man has long been unaccustomed to it, others are afraid of him Xu Zhihe, but I am not afraid of Zhou Ben." ”

"Dad, do you listen to your son," Zhou Zizuo said anxiously, "Whether it's the Yang family or the Xu family, let them settle the grievances themselves, and we won't participate." Send him to Jinling and let Xu Zhihe deal with it, and we won't stir it up. Dad, we will defend Luzhou, this is our capital. Zhou Ben didn't listen, insisted on going out to take Yang Meng in, Zhou Zizuo took the opportunity to block the door outside, Zhou Ben scolded in the house, Zhou Zizuo just didn't open the door, and at the same time ordered someone to send Yang Meng to Jinling immediately.

Xu Zhihe was very angry when he learned of this, and he wanted to make an example of him, so he ordered to kill Yang Meng directly, without sending him to Jinling. He is now in full control of the military and political power of Wu State, not the emperor is better than the emperor, and he is no longer the Xu Zhihe who needed to be haste-alert and patient. Poor Yang Meng thought that defecting to Zhou Ben could use the power of Yang's old generals to fight back against Xu Zhihe, but he didn't expect that he was killed by Xu Zhihe without even seeing Zhou Ben's people.

After Zhou Ben learned that Yang Meng was killed, he wept bitterly, and he cried and said: "I am the old general of the Yang family, seeing that the old master is suffering but unable to do anything, what face do I have to see the ancestor also." The more Zhou Ben spoke, the more sad he became, so he slammed into the pillar in the house, and the family wanted to stop it but it was too late, and Zhou Ben suddenly burst out and died.

Xu Zhihe sighed after learning of Zhou Ben's death, Zhou Ben was known as a virtuous person in Wu State, and was recognized as a loyal person among the old generals of Yang and Wu. Xu Zhihe was moved by his loyalty, and on the one hand, he ordered a rich burial to appease his family, and on the other hand, he ordered Yang Meng's family to be arrested and all executed.