At such a special moment, the welcome ceremony is naturally simple.

After entering Nanjing City, Zhu Houzhao once again stayed in the palace, which was a familiar place for him.

After entering the palace, Zhu Houzhao summoned Liu Jian as soon as possible.

This is a sign of respect for this cabinet scholar, and it is also the best way for Zhu Houzhao to understand the affairs of Nanjing. Since Liu Jian arrived in Nanjing, most of the things here are up to him.

"Minister, see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." When he saw Zhu Houzhao, Liu Jian saluted respectfully.

Zhu Houzhao hurriedly said: "Liu Aiqing is exempt." It's really hard for you to let Liu Aiqing come to Nanjing once. There's nothing going on in Nanjing these days, right? ”

"Back to His Royal Highness the Prince, everything is stable in Nanjing." Liu Jian hurriedly said: "Everyone is worried about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who is far away in Hangzhou City. Now that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has returned safely, Nanjing can be regarded as having a backbone. ”

"I could have come back early, but I didn't finish the matter in Hangzhou, and I didn't feel at ease when I left the palace." Zhu Houzhao said with a smile: "Now there is only King Ning's way left." After I finish dealing with this side, Jiangnan's matter will be completely finished.

Liu Jian nodded and said: "King Ning's mantis arm is not self-sufficient, he is just a clown jumping beam, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince does not need to worry too much." It's just that King Ning is under the banner of King Qin, which is really a bit difficult to do, and if all of them are characterized as rebellions, many people may be unconvinced. ”

These are the words that Liu Jian has been holding in his heart, and he specially waited for Zhu Houzhao to arrive before saying it. He was afraid that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would directly condemn King Ning as a rebel, after all, people had not yet raised the banner of rebellion.

The key issue lies in the formal style of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in front of him. Liu Jian also read the letter sent by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to the capital, and it was already written very clearly.

In fact, Liu Jian also believed that King Ning was indeed going to rebel, and this King Qin was the reason he found very badly. But since people shouted it out, it's hard for you to say that they are rebelling.

"The palace has already sent someone to deliver the news." Zhu Houzhao opened his mouth and said: "Let's just say that the rebellion in Hangzhou has been quelled, let King Ning bring people back." I believe in King Yining's means, you should understand what this means, and you will make a choice. We'll just wait and see what gets better. ”

After Liu Jian heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief.

This is the best way to do it. If King Ning hadn't rebelled, he would have gone back to Jiangxi by himself, but this possibility was very small. Because everyone knows that King Ning is a rebellion, he will not choose that.

Then there is only one way left in front of King Ning, that is, to continue to rebel, and to play the banner of rebellion. In such a situation, it would be much easier for the imperial court to purge King Ning again.

After receiving Zhu Houzhao's reply, Liu Jian had nothing to say, so he stood up and said, "In this way, the minister will be at ease." His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been tired all the way, and he still has to pay attention to his body. The minister retired first. ”

In fact, Zhu Houzhao and Liu Jian have nothing to say, the relationship between him and his father's courtiers is actually not very good, and the relationship is not very good, so they have not been very close.

This time Liu Jian came over as a routine, and after the matter was over, there was nothing else to say.

"Liu Jin sent Liu Aiqing for the palace." Zhu Houzhao said with a smile.

After Liu Jian left, Zhu Houzhao didn't go to other things. He really needs to take a break, and although there is not much risk these days, it can be regarded as hard work.

Outside Jiujiang City, in the camp of King Ning.

King Ning sat on the chair, his face terrifyingly dark. He raised his head and glanced at the middle-aged man standing in front of him, and said in a deep voice, "Is the news confirmed?" ”

"Back to the prince, it's been decided." Liu Yangzheng bowed and said.

Liu Yangzheng is a middle-aged man in his forties.

If you say who is King Ning's confidant minister, he Liu Yangzheng is the only one. As for Wang Qian, he was not King Ning's confidant from beginning to end, after all, both sides had different thoughts.

"The prince has returned to Nanjing, and the Hangzhou side has completely failed. The crown prince and his entourage did not hide their identities, it is said that Wang Huai has been arrested by His Royal Highness the prince, so the news is confirmed. Lord, what should we do now? ”

King Ning glanced at Liu Yangzheng and said with a smile: "Do we have any way out now?" Are there any other options? ”

When he said this, King Ning's face was all bitter.

Then he said helplessly: "I originally thought that Wang had some ability, at least he could buy us some time." But who would have thought that he would be so useless? ”

Liu Yangzheng didn't answer, he really had no way to talk about it. He recognized the ability of the Wang family's father and son; But sometimes it's not just that ability means it's okay, after all, it's useless to have ability alone in many things.

For example, the prince of his own family, he does not trust the father and son of the Wang family.

Originally, according to the original plan, the army should go straight to Hangzhou, and when it arrives there to join Wang Huaili, directly kill Zhu Houzhao, take Hangzhou City, and then go north and take Nanjing.

But his own prince didn't do it.

What is the idea of his own prince, Liu Yangzheng is clear in his heart, the prince does not trust the father and son of the Wang family, so he does not want to go to Hangzhou, and wants the prince and the father and son of the Wang family to consume each other. He took advantage of this opportunity to take down Nanjing directly.

The prince's ideas and calculations are naturally good, but who would have thought that after so many troops left Jiangxi, they couldn't even take a single Jiujiang?

The 200,000 army has been holding in this small Jiujiang, which can be said to have given the prince a head start!

Now that Hangzhou is finished, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has returned to Nanjing, what way back does the prince have?

In such a situation, there is no choice, and the situation is very unfavorable for the prince. When there was cooperation from Hangzhou, his side failed to take Jiujiang; Now that there is no cooperation from Hangzhou, how can this battle be fought?

There is only one way left, and that is to go head-to-head.

But where does the confidence come from when you have a hard fight with His Royal Highness the Prince?

"Pass the order, attack the city tomorrow, and you must take Jiujiang." King Ning said with a gloomy face.

Now, he has no way out, he can only go all the way forward, otherwise it will be a dead end.

At this time, a soldier suddenly ran in from outside, bowed down and said to King Ning: "Lord, there is news from Jiujiang City, saying that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has put down the rebellion and asked the prince to take people back to Nanchang. ”

After hearing this, King Ning was stunned for a moment, and then a sneer appeared on his face, "I really want to be beautiful, if I go back like this, I don't know how I will die." ”

Raising his head and looking at Liu Yangzheng, King Ning said, "According to the plan, we will continue to attack Jiujiang tomorrow." ”

"Yes, lord, I'll arrange it right away." Liu Yangzheng nodded and said.

Now, King Ning has no way out, and he naturally has no way out. In such a situation, there is nothing for him to think about anymore, only to fight to the death

When Liu Yangzheng turned to go out, King Ning stopped him with his mouth, and said with a gloomy face: "You take a few people to kill Wang Gan." Now that his son has been arrested, there is no need to keep him. ”

Liu Yangzheng's heart was cold.

Although the father and son of the Wang family are not in harmony with the prince, they are all serving the prince. Isn't it inappropriate to kill people at this time?

Liu Yangzheng said with some hesitation: "Lord Wang, do you want to wait a little longer?" The war is urgent, and if Wang Qian is killed now, I am afraid that the people's hearts will fluctuate and the morale of the army will be shaken, which will be detrimental to the next major events. ”

Liu Yangzheng is really a little worried, and if he does this, it will make others feel cold.

"Do you think I don't know?" King Ning raised his head and looked at Liu Yangzheng, and said with a dark face: "But now that it's over, is there anything else I can do?" Do you know what that Wang Qian can do to save his son? What if he wants to exchange this king for his son? Do you know how many people would have betrayed the king if he had instigated it? ”

"I can't take this risk, so he's going to die. You take a few people and kill him quietly, and don't send him for the time being, so that no one else knows that he's dead. After the fact, even if you know, it doesn't matter. ”

After a moment of silence, Liu Yangzheng nodded, then turned his head and walked outside.

In fact, he felt that what King Ning said made sense, after all, the father and son of the Wang family had no loyalty to their own prince, and in such a situation, keeping Wang Qian was indeed an unstable factor.

Or that killing him would have some detrimental effects; But if you don't kill him, the impact won't be much better. Once he has something he shouldn't have, his own people are in danger.

So Liu Yangzheng didn't say anything more, he took someone to do it.

In fact, since the dispatch of the army, Wang Qian has been under house arrest. When Liu Yangzheng came to Wang Qian's tent with people, Wang Qian was drinking.

Seeing Liu Yangzheng coming, Wang Gan raised his head and glanced at him, and said with a smile: "You're here to kill me, right?" Our prince is good anywhere, but it's not good at all, he is too anxious to do things, and at the same time he has no mind. ”

Liu Yangzheng didn't speak, and he wasn't surprised at all that Wang Qian was able to guess his intentions. In terms of ability, Liu Jian still admires Wang Gan very much, and even feels that he is inferior to him.

Liu Jian raised his head and looked at Wang Gan, and said, "I knew this was the case, why bother in the first place? ”

"The same goes for you." Wang Qian smiled and said somewhat casually.

He's already dead anyway, so he doesn't have any scruples when he talks.

Wang Qian raised his head and looked at Liu Yangzheng, and said with a smile: "Do you think the prince of our family can succeed?" ”

Liu Yangzheng didn't speak, he was silent.

"Looks like you can see that, too." Wang Qian said with a smile: "If I had taken someone to Hangzhou at the beginning, I might have been able to have a glimmer of life." But now it's lifeless. If the army goes well, it can successfully take Jiujiang Anqing, and then the soldiers will go straight to Nanjing, maybe there is also a glimmer of hope. But now that the crown prince has returned to Nanjing, the prince has no hope. You should also be able to see that there are no famous generals under the prince. ”

Liu Yangzheng could naturally see this, and he didn't feel anything before, but he saw it when he attacked Jiujiang this time. There is no way for so many people to take a Jiujiang, which is enough to explain the problem.

Seeing that Liu Yangzheng didn't speak, Wang Qian said with a smile: "Now that the matter is over, don't you want to find a way to get out for yourself?" Do you really want to die with the prince? You must know that this is a rebellion, if the court really investigates it, all of them will be raided and exterminated, so why bother? ”

Hearing Wang Gan's words, Liu Yangzheng smiled.

Wang Gan continued regardless of it: "You should also understand that even if the prince really succeeds by luck one day, I'm afraid the fate of our people will not be much better, so don't take chances." ”

Looking at Wang Qian, Liu Yangzheng said with a smile: "I have to say, you are a very capable person. Until now, you are still unwilling, and you still want to bewitch me. Do you want to say that we will strike together, take our men to capture King Ning, and then use him as a condition to surrender to the imperial court? ”

His thoughts were debunked, but Wang Gan's face did not change at all, and he said slowly: "Talking to smart people is worry-free." In this way, we have changed from traitors to heroes of counterinsurgency. The reason is actually very simple, we followed King Ning to King Qin, who would have thought that he would rebel? When we learned that King Ning was going to rebel, we set things right. ”

Liu Yangzheng looked at Wang Gan and said with a calm face: "Who do you think you can fool with such a statement?" Besides, your son has been captured alive by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, do you really think you can get out of the relationship? ”

"What's this?" Wang Qian said indifferently: "When that time comes, we will be the heroes of the counterinsurgency, and the court will not kill us, so we will lose the hearts of the people." ”

"As for my son, although he is the most successful, I have seven sons and have no problem inheriting the family business. When the time comes, it will be said that he and King Ning colluded with each other, and I, the father, did not know about it. After gaining insight into their conspiracy, I decisively killed my relatives, after all, I am loyal to the Ming Dynasty. ”

Liu Yangzheng couldn't say a word, he could only look at Wang Qian, and then showed a wry smile.

"I used to feel that I was inferior to you, because my strategy was not as good as you, your Wang family's father and son are all dragons and phoenixes among people. But now I know, I'm not only inferior to you in strategy," Liu Yangzheng said with a smile: "I'm not as thick as you, I didn't expect you to even give up your own son." ”

"No poison no husband. Besides, doing this kind of thing is itself preparing to die, and now it's just a son who dies, it's not a big deal. Wang Qian said with a smile.

"Although you say it well, I don't believe it." The smile on Liu Yangzheng's face instantly retracted, and then he said, "It's not that I don't believe what you say, I don't believe that the court and the crown prince will let us go." ”

"In addition, I am different from you, the prince has the grace of knowing me, and I want to repay the prince with death. So put away your demagogic set, and if you don't have any last words, then I'll send you on your way. ”

"Okay." Wang Qian stood up with a smile, and he didn't seem surprised, he felt a little unhappy or angry.

He looked at Liu Yangzheng and said slowly: "On the Huangquan Road, I am waiting for the prince and you. ”

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