Three days later, Li Xiao's handwritten reply letter reached the hands of Zhu Cihong, the emperor of Chongxing.

Zhu Cihong thought that Li Xiao was in the middle of the plan, and with a hidden joy on his face, he quickly opened it to watch.

However, as the reading deepened, the faint smile on his face gradually disappeared and gradually turned into an indescribable stiffness.

After reading the whole letter, as if this letter weighed a thousand catties, Zhu Cihong's wrist fell, and the several pieces of letter paper slowly slipped from his hand and scattered all over the place.

Seeing such a change, Wang Chengen, the eunuch standing next to him, did not dare to come out.

Zhu Cihong sat like a puppet, he didn't move for a long time, his expression was stunned, as if there was no breath of life.

It's just that his eyes are hateful and confused, mixed with inexplicable hesitation.

This letter is simply Li Xiao's serious warning to himself.

This Tang King Li Xiao, although he did not mention in the letter that he and Gao Hongtu wanted to join forces to frame him, but he reminded himself very vaguely that he was fully aware of the matter, and he wanted to rein in the precipice, turn back in time, and don't go all the way to the dark.

At this moment, Zhu Cihong suddenly felt extremely frustrated.

In front of this human-like Li Xiao, under the secret surveillance of his cobweb-like minions and subordinates, he really has any thoughts or actions, and he will see through them at a glance, and there will be no more survivors.

Such a powerful and powerful minister is simply a nightmare existence.

Zhu Cihong even thought in fear, perhaps, from the time Gao Hongtu and they landed on the ship, they had been under Li Xiao's monitoring throughout the whole process. The various schemes that he thought were meticulous and foolproof may seem to Li Xiao, almost transparent under his nose, and there is no secret at all.

This painstaking plan to kill Li Xiao may have been an extremely absurd joke from the beginning.

What to do?

Do you really want to cut off contact with Gao Hongtu as Li Xiao advised in the letter, give up this shady killing plan as soon as possible, and restore your original state with Li Xiao?

Is it that he still has to let go of the dignity of the emperor and the authority of the king, sincerely apologize to the Tang King Li Xiao, and promise not to make similar mistakes again, so that he can finally open the net?

Zhu Cihong's heart was extremely chaotic, and there was even more inexplicable humiliation mixed in it. He suddenly turned his head and looked at Wang Chengen, who shrunk his head and looked wilted next to him.

"Chengen, take a look at King Tang's letter." Zhu Cihong's tone was cold.

Wang Chengen felt the emperor's compelling gaze, and trembled for no reason. He looked up wincingly, his lips pursed, but he couldn't say a word.

He leaned down, picked up several pieces of letter paper that had fallen to the ground one by one, and then quickly looked through them from beginning to end, and his round fat face was suddenly pale.

He pounced, knelt on the ground, and immediately shouted with a cry: "Your Majesty! Although the words of King Tang were calm and vague, judging by his tone and attitude, I am afraid that he already knew the emperor's plan. The emperor's current life and death can really be said to be all about the thought of King Tang! The old slave implored the emperor to turn back as soon as possible, as the Tang king said, to expel Gao Hongtu, and then sincerely apologize to the Tang king, so as to restore the harmonious relationship with the Tang king as much as possible. This matter is very urgent and must not be delayed! ”

After Wang Chengen finished speaking, he kowtowed again and again, and the thud of his forehead hitting the ground was very clear and terrifying.

Seeing his pleading appearance, Zhu Cihong became more and more irritable in his heart. He pursed his lips and was silent for a long time before he spat out a sentence from between his lips: "What if I don't want to?" ”

Zhu Cihong's words made Wang Chengen tremble again.

He raised his head slightly, and looked Zhu Cihong up and down for a long time with a strange look that seemed to not know the person opposite, and then replied tremblingly: "Your Majesty, although the old slave is dull, he can also see from the letter that the Tang King has a complete understanding of your plan, if you want to have a little luck, I'm afraid you can't." Speaking of this letter, it is actually a strong warning to the emperor. If you still don't know what it means, and you insist on doing it, I'm afraid that you will be doomed to burn yourself and doomed to bring disaster upon yourself! ”

The muscles on Zhu Cihong's face trembled, and his expression was very ugly. With his mouth tense, he sprang up from the dragon chair and walked back and forth around the room like a restless trapped beast.

After walking back and forth for a long time, Zhu Cihong slowly stood up and looked at Wang Chengen's indifferent and unfamiliar gaze: "Chengen, you say, what if I rushed before Li Xiao arrived, as Gao Hongtu said before, and quickly took a boat south to Fuzhou?" ”

"Your Majesty, this plan is not feasible!" Wang Chengen hurriedly replied: "Since Li Xiao is well aware of His Majesty's assassination plan, how could he not know the escape plan agreed upon by His Majesty and Gao Hongtu?" The old slave is only afraid that if His Majesty forcibly goes south and forcibly leaves Jinan for Jiaozhou, he will definitely have unforeseen worries because this plan has already been grasped by Li Xiao! ”

Wang Chengen paused, and replied eagerly: "Your Majesty, in the opinion of the old slave, Your Majesty must no longer have any selfish distractions and dark thoughts. You should completely follow what Tang Wang said in his letter, immediately draw a line with Gao Hongtu, and even arrest this person and put him in prison if necessary. In this way, he will completely break with the ill-intentioned Zheng Zhilong, Hongguang Jianguo and others, and there will be no more rebellion. And if the King of Tang sees His Majesty acting like this, he will be relieved, and he will become more and more at ease with His Majesty, and finally eliminate the disputes between the monarch and the minister, and the court will be able to calm down......"

"Enough! You don't have to say more! Zhu Cihong interrupted Wang Chengen's words with a cold face: "You go, call me for that lofty plan, and I will ask him in person." ”

"Your Majesty! Gao Hongtu is ill-intentioned, confuses the emperor, and almost makes the emperor make a terrible mistake, you can trust him again! Wang Chengen had a regretful expression on his face: "Your Majesty, you have been in such a dangerous situation, and you have not completely cut off contact with this person, so as to eliminate the worries of the Tang King, but you will continue to be bewitched by this person, making yourself more and more dangerous without knowing it, the old slave's heart is really like a knife!" Your Majesty, please listen to the old slave, you want to ......"

"Shut up! Needless to say! Zhu Cihong's face was hideous, he stared at Wang Chengen who was kneeling on the ground, and shouted angrily: "Wang Chengen, your words are upside down, which makes me very bored. I am now an adult, and I have my own opinions, and I will be deceived by how I can listen to lofty words. I don't want to say anything more to you, so you just call that lofty ambition. ”

After Zhu Cihong finished speaking, he brushed his sleeves and left, and did not stop until he was in front of the window, he looked at the scenery outside the window, and did not look at Wang Chengen again.

Wang Chengen had a very sad expression on his face, he sighed, and finally could only get up silently and go to summon the lofty plan into the apse and talk to Zhu Cihong.

After Gao Hongtu arrived, he wanted to kneel and salute, but was stopped by Zhu Ciliang. Immediately, he forwarded Li Xiao's letter to Gao Hongtu.

Gao Hongtu quickly read Li Xiao's letter, and his face was also pale. In the cold weather, there was also cold sweat on his forehead.

After he finished reading it, he trembled and handed the letter back to Wang Chengen, then fell to his knees with a thud and said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty! Now that Li Xiao has seen that something is wrong, our plan to secretly kill him is completely unfeasible. Now, there's only one way to go. ”

"Oh? What is the path? ”

"Please prepare quickly, go to Jiaozhou from Jinan with the next one, and then take a boat from here to Fuzhou immediately." Gao Hongtu hurriedly said: "Only by immediately leaving the scope of Li Xiao's control and going to the place where the Zhennan Marquis Zheng, who is loyal to the imperial court and loyal to the emperor, can the emperor be safe." ”

As soon as Gao Hongtu finished speaking, Zhu Cihong had not yet spoken, and Wang Chengen on the side was anxious, and he yelled at Gao Hongtu: "Gao Hongtu! You have deceived my lord with such a trick, and it is a shame for the conscience! You are waiting for such a vicious trick, and now that the king of Tang has seen through it, why are you still unwilling, you will drag the emperor into the water and let him go all the way to the dark?! You are so vicious, wantonly deceiving a young man who is still ignorant of his blood, are you worthy of the first emperor who single-handedly promoted you?! You thief, you are really ruthless and unjust, you have no conscience, and your heart can be punished! ”

Hearing Wang Chengen's scolding like this, Zhu Ciliang's face was very ugly, and Gao Hongtu, who was kneeling on the ground, turned pale in an instant, and his expression was very embarrassed.

However, his expression did not last long, and as soon as Wang Chengen finished speaking, he immediately returned to normal.

He sneered at Wang Chengen and said, "Princess, hearing you say this, are you going to blame Weichen?" It seems that since Weichen arrived in Jinan, he must have made the prince very hateful, so that he couldn't wait to ask the Tang King to report immediately, but he wanted to take Weichen's head to pave a road to glory and wealth for himself, right? ”

His words made Wang Chengen's lips tremble and tremble with anger, and he was about to have a seizure, but was stopped by Zhu Cihong.

"Gao Aiqing, don't say that, Chengen and I have been friends for many years, and I treat them like my brother's family, so I am very relieved. Cheng En is also loyal to me, and there is no disagreement in the slightest, I have long known it. Your words are so inappropriate. Zhu Cihong hurriedly played a round.

Gao Hongtu sighed lightly, turned his head again, and looked straight at Zhu Cihong who was sitting on the dragon chair: "Your Majesty, don't you really understand the current situation?" Do you really think that Li Xiao, the king of Tang, will let you go because of your softness and apology? ”

Zhu Ciliang's face was ugly, and he shouted: "If you have anything to say, you can tell me." ”

Gao Hongtu smiled coldly, and then replied in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, now that our plan has been leaked, and our lives are on the verge of death, if you don't leave quickly and leave this place of right and wrong quickly, do you still have to stretch your neck and wait for Li Xiao to come and kill?" ”

Zhu Cihong stared at him, his throat swelled, but he didn't speak.

In Gao Hongtu's lizard-like wrinkled eyes, a cold light flashed: "Your Majesty, there is a way, there is no turning back when you open the bow." Once this matter is done, the emperor will already be in a state of breaking off with Li Xiao. The relationship between you and Li Xiao has such a major rift, and it is difficult to recover. Now that Li Xiao is writing this letter to the emperor, it seems that he is tactful and meandering, but in Weichen's opinion, his approach is just a delaying tactic. ”

Gao Hongtu swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and continued: "Li Xiao is now in Nanjing, and military and political affairs are all involved, so he can't move easily. That's why after he learned about our plan, he didn't immediately return to Jinan to immediately attack the emperor. Instead, he hopes to use such a delaying tactic to make the emperor and his ministers dislike and split themselves, and finally achieve the effect of surrendering without a fight. His little trick is such a small trick, Wei Chen can see it at a glance. ”

Seeing that Zhu Cihong was looking at himself intently, Gao Hongtu said again: "Your Majesty, with all due respect, if Your Majesty really severs relations with your ministers as Li Xiao said, and continues to be a rubber stamp as before, then it is really as the prince said, you can save your life for the time being, and avoid it for a while." It's just that as Li Xiao's territory continues to expand, as his foundation continues to be solid, when the emperor is dispensable to him, what should come, it will definitely come. When the time comes, just like Wei Chen said before, whether he gives the emperor a white ridge or a cup of poisonous wine depends on how he feels. ”

Zhu Cihong's face was gloomy, the corners of his mouth were tight, and his hands were subconsciously clenched into fists, but he still didn't say anything.

Gao Hongtu saw him like this, and continued: "In Weichen's opinion, if Your Majesty wants to take revenge for a long time, or even in the future, then you need to make a decision, and hurry up with Weichen, taking advantage of the rare opportunity when Li Xiao has not yet returned and his attention is still on military affairs, quietly leave Jinan for Jiaozhou Port, and then board the Zhennanhou ship that has been moored in the port from here. As long as you can get on the boat and leave Shandong, your majesty should be able to save your life. And I waited all the way to the south, and after I went to Fuzhou, because His Majesty came in person, the Marquis of Zhennan and Hongguang Jian Guo would personally greet him and show His Majesty the duty of a loyal and upright minister. They will never be as rampant and domineering as Li Xiao and contempt the monarch, and Wei Chen will definitely dare to guarantee this to His Majesty. “

Gao Hongtu said quickly, coughed lightly, and said: "After the emperor arrives in Fuzhou, Hongguang Jianguo will definitely go to the title and fully respect His Majesty." And the provinces that I am still under the control of, whether officials or soldiers, will all obey Your Majesty's rule and be fully loyal to the emperor. This person's heart is available, the military heart can be done, and His Majesty will take advantage of the situation to issue an order, summon the world, and launch a crusade against Li Xiao, a national thief, then the great thing will be successful, and the Ming country will be prosperous! ”

Gao Hongtu ended his words with a resounding final note, and then stared at the Emperor Zhu Cihong in front of him with blazing eyes.

Zhu Cihong breathed heavily, his face turned red, he muttered for a long time, and finally slowly raised his head, his face was also full of determination: "Hmph! I'd rather be the head of a chicken than a queen of the ox, and the puppet is still like this, not to mention that I am the son of tomorrow! Instead of trying to survive under Li Xiao's hands forever, whether he lives or dies depends on his face, it is better to fight him, take a boat south with Gao Aiqing, leave this land of tigers and wolves, and go to Fujian to plot again! I have made up my mind, I am willing to leave Jinan immediately with Gao Aiqing, go to Jiaozhou Port to take a boat south to Fuzhou, and ask Gao Aiqing to arrange it quickly, I will ask you! ”

Hearing the emperor's affirmative reply, Gao Hongtu was overjoyed, he knelt on the ground in a hurry, and said loudly: "The emperor is sage! The emperor was quick to break the opportunity, and he was very decisive, and he was really an immortal hero. Please rest assured that Weichen will arrange it, and he will definitely take the emperor to leave safely as soon as possible. ”