After the king of the Ming Dynasty became the emperor of Zhu Di, power began to be gradually hollowed out, and military power began to be concentrated in the imperial court. And more and more of those vassal kings became idlers with nothing to do, and in the Chongzhen period, most of those vassal kings were carefree and drunk every day.

They were not allowed to take the imperial examination, they were not allowed to participate in politics, and they were not allowed to get involved in local military power, but their lives were supported by the imperial court, and they became a group of wasted people who did not want to make progress. Like now that the Ming Dynasty has collapsed, the mercenaries and self-respecting generals in various places have supported the vassal kings in various places to fight for power.

In other words, in fact, it is not these vassal kings who can really call the shots, but the generals under their command who hold military power. But there are always exceptions, and among the many vassal kings, there are still sporadic self-motivated. For example, Zhu Yihai, whom Chen Jisheng is about to visit.

Leshan Town is indeed a small town, and Zhu Yihai's 50,000 soldiers and horses have not all lived in the town, and 30,000 soldiers and horses have to camp outside the town. Although Leshan Town is small, it can be regarded as a complete set of organs, after all, this town is the only town within a radius of 100 miles.

There are nearly 100 villages of all sizes within 100 miles nearby, and the town will be very lively every time it is a market day. However, after the arrival of the vassal king Zhu Yihai, the town of Leshan became a military stronghold. The people's daily trade was cleared directly to a specially carved open space outside the town.

When night fell, the lights came on, and it was just after dusk, but the town of Leshan was already peaceful. The streets and alleys are full of patrolling officers and soldiers, and there are many patrols, but these officers and soldiers are not vigilant, they seem to be just routine patrols, and they do not care about the people who walk through the streets and alleys like them.

Chen Jisheng had already taken off his battle robe at this moment, put on the clothes of ordinary people, and walked through the streets like other ordinary people under the leadership of the three monkeys. On the outside, Leshan Town seems to be peaceful, but on the inside, it is not.

The restaurants on the street or the places with bright lights, each one is crowded with people, so it is not lively. Chen Jisheng walked around half the street, and saw such a situation along the way, and couldn't help muttering: "It seems that this small Leshan Town is quite prosperous!" ”

Hearing this, the monkey turned around and explained: "The general doesn't know, this Leshan town used to be mostly a happy land for some green forest men or those bandit forces in the barren mountains. If these people hadn't been frightened by the sudden appearance of the vassal king's army, they would not have been willing to hand over this paradise like this. ”

Chen Jisheng didn't seem to be so interested in these things, and after listening to it for a while, he interrupted the monkey: "How long will it take to get to Zhu Yihai's residence?" ”

The monkey looked around, and after finding no suspicious characters, he lowered his voice and said: "General, two streets ahead is the town's government office, and Zhu Yihai will live there." It's just that it's still early, and the defenses over there are extremely strong, and it will be necessary to wait for midnight to sneak into the palace. ”

Chen Jisheng shook his head and said: "I can't wait, if I can't warn Zhu Yihai before dawn, let him prepare early." Once Gao Jie launched a sneak attack in the early hours of the morning, we would not be able to explain our jump into the Yellow River in the future. ”

After a pause, Chen Jisheng said: "You don't have to pay attention to other things, just take me to the mansion." ”

The monkey hesitated for a moment and nodded, "Yes, General." ”

The pace of the five began to quicken, and under the leadership of the monkey, they turned around to the backyard of the mansion. In a secluded place, the monkey pointed to the courtyard wall that was more than four meters high and said, "General, from here you climb over the wall to enter the backyard of the mansion, and Zhu Yihai's bedroom is in the third bedroom in the middle courtyard." ”

Chen Jisheng suddenly smiled and asked, "How do you know so clearly?" ”

The monkey touched the back of his head and smiled: "The little one was looking for news for the inside, and he deliberately blended into the mansion, and he stayed in it for a night and already had a clear understanding of the mansion." ”

Chen Jisheng nodded appreciatively, and then let the three monkeys play outside, while he and a personal guard secretly changed into a night suit, and then quickly climbed over the wall into the backyard of the mansion.

Easily entering the backyard, Chen Jisheng raised his eyes and found that this backyard was dark everywhere, only a few lanterns were hanging in the corridor, and the dim light could not radiate to the entire garden full of flowers and plants.

There were no guards in the garden, except for two guards with knives at the end of the aisle. Chen Jisheng pointed to the two guards beside him, and said softly: "Wait a minute, let's sneak over, and then climb over the wall over there to another courtyard, don't disturb them." ”

The guards nodded silently to show that they understood, and Chen Jisheng stopped talking nonsense, recalling the route that the monkey said in his mind, and began to walk through the darkness. The two finally climbed over the wall and came to Zhu Yihai's bedroom as the monkey said.

However, Chen Jisheng only found that there were two subordinates on duty at the door, and he didn't see Zhu Yihai at all.

"General, it seems that this Zhu Yihai has not come to rest, should we look elsewhere?" The guards whispered to Chen Jisheng for instructions.

Looking at the sky, Chen Jisheng found that it was not early, he shook his head and said, "No need, we can just wait here!" ”

The hard work paid off, Chen Jisheng waited for less than half an hour, and then found that there was suddenly movement outside the courtyard. He raised his eyes to look at the gate of the courtyard, and found two subordinates carrying lanterns to open the way in front, and behind him was a middle-aged man in Ge Yi who looked like a scholar.

Because the light at the moment was not very good, Chen Jisheng did not see the appearance of the middle-aged man clearly, but he still knew that the middle-aged man who arrived in front of him must be Zhu Yihai. Facts have proved that Chen Jisheng's guess is correct, the middle-aged man is indeed Zhu Yihai himself, and he has just met with envoys sent by other vassal kings in the front hall. Other vassal kings persuaded Zhu Yihai to cooperate, but he resolutely refused.

Zhu Yihai was very disdainful of other vassal kings, and he would not cooperate with such pig teammates at all.

Under Chen Jisheng's gaze, Zhu Yihai went straight into his bedroom, and the subordinates outside quickly retreated one after another. The courtyard also fell silent, with only a few guards on duty outside the gate of the courtyard.

Obviously, this was a good opportunity, Chen Jisheng immediately gave the guard beside him a look, and then he dodged and ran out, coming straight to Zhu Yihai's bedroom door. And his personal guards are responsible for giving him the wind in the back to prevent accidents.

Chen Jisheng came to the door, closed his eyes and looked at the crack in the door, and found that Zhu Yihai was reading a book behind the desk and did not fall asleep. He was overjoyed, turned to the open window, jumped into the room, and easily broke into the room.