Sixteenth year of the calendar, November

The situation in the capital has changed greatly, King Jing has suffered a great loss of power because of his involvement in the pirate case, and King Duan took advantage of the situation, taking advantage of the good situation caused by the previous maritime business case, and tried his best to push his own people to the throne.

In just half a month, the power of the Duanwang Party has been greatly expanded, and Duanwang's losses in the Maritime Merchant Household Department have not only returned, but also been greatly enhanced.

Coupled with the demotion of Yu Guifei and the ban of Chang Jia, King Jing's power in the harem and the military has been hit hard, even if King Duan did not deliberately suppress it, King Jing's strength in these two aspects has shrunk sharply with the naked eye.

Late November

The Duanwang Party completed the initial expansion, and King Jing was still forced to be locked in the palace and unable to go out, so the King Jing Party could only lie dormant under the leadership of Shangguanye, waiting for a good opportunity to fight back in the future.

King Duan, who thought that King Jing was not his opponent, was blinded by the good situation in front of him, and despite the opposition of his advisers, he instructed the officials of the Duanwang Party to make a statement to Emperor Liyang about the establishment of the prince at the court meeting.

When the news reached Beiling, Yan Kui, who had just returned to Xiaoguan for less than half a month, heard Duanwang's move, frowned and threw the letter in his hand on the bookcase.

"If you are so anxious, you will bury the good situation in vain and lose your mind."

…………

More than three months ago, Yan Kui went to the General Guan Zhenfu Envoy Office to take up his post, and had a good deal with Qi He's father and son, who left the country, after that, Yan Kui found out Qi He's character and lit up his army, which really shocked Qi He and didn't dare to make any small moves for several months.

During this period, Yan Kui took the old marshal Peng Kuohai as a bridge and privately reached a cooperative relationship with another deputy envoy, Cao Yuanjiang, and the two sides defended each other and helped each other to jointly resist the encroachment of Qi He and even other forces in the DPRK and China.

In order to keep it secret and not to be honest, the two sides did not have a contract on paper, but only an oral alliance and an oath, which was not very stable and firm, but with this agreement, Yan and Cao would not easily stab each other.

And for them, that's enough.

Covenants and joint forces are not really important to the enemy, and it is their real purpose to appease a strong opponent for the time being, and not let him and others deal with him............

After shocking Qi He and Cao Yuanjiang of the alliance, Yan Kui, the deputy envoy of the pacification envoy, was almost firmly seated, so he sat in the government office for two months, and the generals who came to meet their bosses with the border army met one by one, and put on the second-in-command style, Yan Kui said goodbye to Qi and Cao.

No matter how good General Pass is, after all, it is not as comfortable as Xiao Guan, and that place is Yan Kui's base camp.

Yan Kui wanted to leave, and Qi He, who had been with him for a few months, immediately agreed, Cao Yuanjiang has now slowly accumulated some prestige through the alliance with Yan Kui, and his need for Yan Kui is not as dependent as before, so naturally there is no reason to stop him.

So, after Yan Kui wandered for a few months, he led people back to Xiao Guan, but before his ass could sit firmly, he heard such a stupid trick played by Duanwang, and sighed with hatred.

…………

In the past few months, the two cases of maritime merchants and pirates in the DPRK and China have become so big that they can be said to be known to the whole country, not to mention that Yan Kui has a dark web and King Shun to help spread the news, and he knows a lot about the affairs in Beijing, and he is not weak officials in Beijing.

Even because of King Shun, Yan Kui also knew some inside stories of the court that many officials in Beijing did not know.

Initially, when he heard that King Jing was involved in a pirate case and King Duan gained power, Yan Kui was quite relieved.

After all, among the two princes, King Duan is friendly with him, and King Duan's ascension to the throne is in line with his intentions.

But now that King Duan asked his ministers to speak of the prince, Yan Kui really didn't know what to say.

Even if he has average political sensitivity, he can understand that now King Jing is out of power, and King Duan's family is dominant, when he develops steadily and low-key, he must not covet the throne in a hurry, otherwise it is very easy to arouse the vigilance of Emperor Liyang, and then suppress it.

"Wen Shangshu is old and serious, and he has always been cautious, how can he let King Duan be so reckless now." Yan Kui was puzzled.

Even if Duanwang is young and can't hold his breath, his think tank teacher Wen Heng is an old fox, and it is not difficult for him to see the Tao here.

……………

Yan Kui got the news today, and specially summoned his advisers to come over to discuss, hearing his question, Xu Yuyi, the head of the strategists, raised his eyebrows and calculated.

"I heard that Elder Wen has been getting worse and worse in recent years due to old age and decay, and this winter is particularly bitter and cold, the elder may be sick, otherwise he will definitely stop Duanwang."

"It's possible."

Fang Lianhai then opened his mouth and agreed: "In the second case of piracy and maritime merchants, Wen Ming, one of the elders of Wen, has repeatedly taken action, contrary to his previous low-key actions, and now he has been promoted to the fifth rank of supervision of the imperial history because of his merits.

A careful observation shows that he deliberately shows his face and makes meritorious contributions, which is likely to be that Mr. Wen noticed his physical illness and paved the way for his son. ”

"Wen Heng is seriously ill."

Yan Kui rubbed the tiger's mouth, his eyes were inexplicable, this asked Lao Shangshu is Duanwang's right-hand man, and his influence on the status of the Duanwang Party is no worse than that of the right minister Shangguanye's status in the Jingwang Party, if something happens to him, Duanwang will have to fold a big arm.

Fu Qing saw Yan Kui's thoughts, his heart moved, and he stood up and said: "King Duan is now powerful, and the probability of winning the heir is far greater than that of King Jing, but as soon as Wen Heng goes, the Duanwang Party will suddenly lose a bigwig-level figure in the court."

In order to confront King Jing and appease people's hearts, I am afraid that Duanwang will re-launch a figure of the same level as Wen Heng at all costs and sit in the Duanwang Party.

If you have the full support of King Duan, plus the general will open your eyes for you, even if the general's qualifications are slightly worse, there is still hope to sit on the position of the seven giants of the military. ”

Fu Qing's voice was full of bewilderment, but Yan Kui was very sober, he waved his hand: "This matter is too difficult to operate, let's not talk about how King Duan and Lord Wen are, even if they will act as you say, the Seven Giants are definitely not what I can think about now, compared with it, it is better to think about something practical." ”

What is practical for Yan Kui?

Of course, it is Qi He's pacification envoy position, as well as the military power of hundreds of thousands of border troops, these things are what Yan Kui can see, touch, and have the opportunity to get.

…………

Hearing Yan Kui's words, Fu Qing didn't say anything, smiled and retreated, but it was Xu Yu, who was close to Yan Kui, and dared to ask.

"General, why are you suddenly so concerned about the matter of seizing the heir, is it possible that you really want to take refuge in King Duan?"

Before, although Yan Kui and Duan Wang had some friendship, they had always been like leaving, on the surface, Yan Kui maintained a neutral attitude towards the matter of seizing the heir, and he didn't care much about who won and who lost the two kings, but now he suddenly changed his attitude, and Xu Yu couldn't help but be puzzled.

"Ben doesn't want to wade into troubled waters, but he can't help it."

Yan Kui smiled bitterly, and said with a bored face: "In the past, when my status was low, I was covered by a great general, and my life was comfortable.

Now that the official has been promoted, there are a lot more restrictions, unless I am satisfied and have no ambitions, otherwise if I want to climb up, someone in the capital must help me maneuver in the court.

The general was originally okay, but now he is the head of the generals, his identity is sensitive, if he favors me too much, he is easy to be taboo by the royal family, so although I inherit the kindness of the general, it is really not good to put the future in his hands now.

However, I am now a big and small figure in the court, if I want to take refuge, in addition to the general, there are only three people who can enter my eyes - Your Majesty, King Duan, and King Jing. ”

Speaking of this, Yan Kui's tone became more and more embarrassed: "Among the three masters, Your Majesty is undoubtedly the best candidate, follow him, don't worry about chores, just try your best to do errands."

But the difficulty is that His Majesty has been on the throne for more than ten years, and there are countless loyal ministers and good generals under his command, and there are at least seven or eight loyal generals of Sanpin, not to mention the seven giants.

Compared with them, my qualifications and strength are not very outstanding, except for one young, the others are not more than me, and I am a lot less, so it is really difficult to follow Your Majesty.

And King Jing and King Duan are different, they are still princes now, and the power they control is limited, and if they are voted under them on my terms, I am afraid that they will immediately enter the core layer and be reused.

For the sake of the future, King Jing and King Duan are the most suitable people for me to serve, and among the two, King Duan is more in line with me, but I am worried about the danger of seizing the heir, and I dare not take it lightly, so I have been observing and considering it now. ”

Xu Yu suddenly realized, and asked again: "How far has the general been thinking about it now, should we serve Duanwang?" ”

Yan Kui shook his head and said, "This matter is important, you should be cautious, King Duan is acting rashly now, I want to see what the consequences of this matter will be before making a decision." ”

Xu Yu, Fu Qing and the others glanced at each other: "The general is thoughtful, and it should be so." ”