It is undeniable that Song Tianyuan's words worked, and Xu Zengshou almost stayed awake all night.

Xu Zengshou completely scoffed at the things criticized by literati such as the ban on the opening of the sea and the levy of commercial taxes, if the sea ban is not opened and the business tax is not levied, where do you officials come from? Do you still want to get those folded Daming treasure banknotes? Xu Zengshou himself was also a recipient, so he was very supportive of the emperor's policy. As for the emperor's vassal policy, as the youngest son of the founding duke Xu Da, Xu Zengshou was very much in favor of it, and when he was young, he often met with these vassal kings and did not think that they were anything remarkable. But when he grew up, he found that his status with these vassal kings was worlds apart, and he felt a little unfair in his heart, why are these vassal kings all hardcore crops, and there will always be a fortune, my father has made such a great contribution, and my son can't enjoy half of it? Why can't you be the same as the vassal king, the eldest brother will be a duke and a marquis himself? Let Lao Tzu also enjoy the taste of eating and waiting for death...... Of course, this is only an occasional complaint, and I dare not declare it at all.

What Xu Zengshou cares about is Song Tianyuan's analysis of King Yan's rebellion, the sentence "If you are opposed, you will die, and if you don't rebel, you will die!" It stung him deeply, and it also reminded him of the brother-in-law he once admired so much.

Xu Zengshou got up quietly, put on his clothes, gently pushed open the door, and walked out. Behind him, his wife Liu secretly opened her eyes and looked at his back. She didn't actually sleep, because after her husband went to bed, he turned over after a while, sighed after a while, and now he got up in the middle of the night, not knowing what to do......

Today is a cloudy day, dark clouds cover the sky full of stars, the yard is dark, just like Xu Zengshou's heart, he can't find light, he can't find a place to vent.

The reason why Xu Zengshou is entangled is actually very simple, that is, if Zhu Di does not resist, will Zhu Yunwen put him to death? If Zhu Yunwen doesn't persecute him, will Zhu Di rebel? In fact, no one can explain this question clearly, because of these two people, one is dead and the other is the emperor, and neither of them can get an answer from their mouths that is not favorable to them.

In this time and space, Zhu Di did not attract much attention and has long been forgotten by the world. Although the momentum of his rebellion was not small, it only lasted for half a year before it was put down by the three little-known generals Ping'an, Sheng Yong, and Geng Xuan. Therefore, for the civil and military generals of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di is like Liu Bi, the king of Wu in the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms of the Han Dynasty, belonging to a group of fierce generals who do not know the height of the sky, and fight a group of fierce generals under his command, and they are fools who want to challenge the Son of Heaven, and even their reputation is not as good as Liu Bi, because Liu Bi still won a lot of battles back then, but Zhu Di was not, except for plundering civilians, digging canals and colluding with Mongolia, he did not fight any decent victories, Baoding was occupied peacefully in World War I, Tongzhou was conquered by Sheng Yong in World War II, and Yongping was conquered by Geng Xuan in World War III. Beiping was conquered in the fourth war, and he ended up with a dead army. In fact, not only the imperial court held this view, but also many rebel generals who surrendered in the end also held this view, such as Guo Liang, Zhang Fu and others all thought that they were blinded by lard, so they would follow King Yan to rebel.

From this point of view, Song Tianyuan's statement should also have a certain amount of truth, the emperor should have a complete grasp before starting to cut the domain, and he also made preparations for a big fight if it is not successful. But in this way, the question arises, why did the emperor do this? In order to spend such a big price to destroy the Yan King? Could it be that he wants to get rid of the vassal king step by step and achieve a situation where he is dominant?

Thinking of this, Xu Zengshou couldn't help but shudder, if this is the case, the emperor's mind is too terrible. For example, this time, the emperor knew that someone was making small moves, but he did not order a thorough investigation, but chose some roundabout means, such as sending Zhou Xin and others to Beijing to investigate; Send yourself to pretend to be demeaning and act as an undercover agent. Why is that? Isn't it enough to get rid of King Yan, but also to clean up more vassal kings?

"Alas!"

Xu Zengshou found that he was a little mediocre and disturbed himself, the emperor wanted to clean up the vassal king, what does it have to do with him? What can you do? If it was King Yan, he would have to serve a snack, but unfortunately he was already dead. And more importantly, why did the emperor send himself to be an undercover agent? Is it for the sake of the eldest brother's face to give himself a chance to make meritorious contributions? Or did he use his own excuse to contact the rebel party and destroy the Xu family?

What to do? Xu Zengshou couldn't sleep anymore......

Intelligence Division.

"My lord, this is the information I received this morning, please take a look."

"Oh?" Wang Du raised his hand to take the information and glanced at it: "It's Xu Zengshou's, hehe, dustless, do you think this Xu Zengshou is credible?" ”

"It should be credible," Tie Wuchen was stunned for a moment, and said with a smile: "My lord, this Xu Zengshou is not stupid, at this time, can he still fight with the traitorous party?" He should know we're watching him. ”

"However, you didn't monitor that he sent someone to Zhejiang to deliver a letter to his eldest brother, right?"

"What? Did he send a letter to Wei Guogong? Tie Wuchen was a little surprised, checked the information at hand, shook his head and said, "I haven't received this information here!" ”

"Of course you don't have it here, it's the information sent by Ji Gang from the Security Division, he sent someone to keep an eye on the city gate, found the family of the Wei State Mansion, sent someone to follow him outside the city, and brought the person back."

"This," Tie Wuchen hesitated a little and said in a low voice: "Wei Guogong is an important minister of the imperial court, I'm afraid it's not appropriate for us to do this, right?" ”

"Hehe," Wang Du suddenly laughed, pointed at Tie Wuchen and said: "Lord Tie, the Intelligence Department is the emperor's eyes and ears and eagle dog, and should only obey the emperor's orders, and should not take into account anyone. ”

"The emperor is rich all over the world, you are the son of heaven, and there are many talents in the DPRK and China, why did he appoint you as the director of the intelligence department? Why was the Xiucai appointed as the deputy director of the security department? Is it because your talents are the best? Unbeatable? ”

"Actually, it's very simple, none of you have any experience in entering the court as officials, you are all a blank sheet of paper, and there is no Austrian aid in the court, you can only choose to be loyal to the emperor, you will not go to the gang, you can only be a knife in the emperor's hand. If you start to form cliques and do things with care, then there is no value for your existence. ”

"Why did Feng Xingjian betray the emperor? Do you know? ”

"This," Tie Wuchen was stunned for a moment, and said in surprise, "Isn't it because the emperor has canceled their right to arrest and interrogate?" ”

"Hehe," Wang Du shook his head: "It's not just that, Feng Xingjian once accepted the order of Lord Huang Zicheng to coerce the king of Runan and make him accuse his father King Zhou, the emperor believed it and sent someone to Daning to recall the king of Zhou, but the king of Zhou immediately rebelled." ”

"Although the king of Zhou was not wronged, but after the emperor knew about this, he was furious, sent Lord Huang out of Beijing, and issued an order to reprimand Feng Xingjian, because it was a critical moment to counterbalance the rebellion, and the emperor did not remove Feng Xingjian, but the emperor did not expect that Feng Xingjian was afraid, but chose to rebel."

"But," Tie Wuchen hesitated for a moment and said, "Feng Xingjian's confession doesn't contain these contents. ”

"That's the emperor's will, it's to save Lord Huang's face, but, after Lord Huang, hehe......" Speaking of this, Wang Du turned his head and sneered a few times.

After a long time, Tie Wuchen bowed: "Thank you for your advice!" Humble duty will never be forgotten! ”

Tie Wuchen sincerely thanked him, the Intelligence Department is mainly aimed at the enemy country and the barbarians in the Ming Dynasty, and generally does not involve domestic affairs, so I don't think the matter is so deep, listening to Wang Duyi today, I can't help but feel empowered.

"It's nothing," Wang Du waved his hand.

"So, my lord, the emperor is about to return to Beijing, shouldn't we do it?"

Wang Du pondered for a long time, and finally said, "Not for the time being, but you also need to make some preparations." You divide the work with the Security Division, and the people on these lists are to be closely monitored and not to leave your sight. In addition, the official wants to enter the palace once, and ask the prince to give an order to General Xu and Commander Liu, from today on, these people are neither allowed to enter the palace nor go out of the city! ”

"My lord's opinion, my humble admiration!"

……

"The emperor is really an amorous seed, there is Bai Fangrui in front, and now there is Xu Miaojin, but the Xu family is different from the Bai family, Xu Yihua is suspicious, Xu Zengshou has a criminal record, although Xu Huizu is respectful, but the city is very deep, such a family background, if you enter the palace and give birth to a prince, I am afraid it will affect the status of the prince, right? You have to plan ahead. ”

"Do you want to take this opportunity to wipe out the Xu family?"

Wang Du looked at the information in his hand and fell into deep thought......