On the way to Kaifeng, Li Chuang asked suspiciously: "Big brother, there is something unknown about the younger brother." ”

"Well, what's wrong?" Feng Xingjian, dressed as a businessman, turned around and asked.

"Big brother, judging from the emperor's reaction, he is not so eager to cut the domain, so why doesn't the eldest brother play back according to the truth, but instead go to Kaifeng for a while?"

"Alas, brother, you don't understand, it's not the same now, although the emperor still relies on Jinyiwei, but it's far less than before. The Song commander was transferred, and the emperor did not appoint a new commander, some people say that this is the emperor's attention to Lord Song. However, brother, I think that the emperor is intentionally or unintentionally reducing the power of Jinyiwei, so,"

"That's why the eldest brother will agree to that ......," Li Chuang interjected.

"Yes," Feng Xingjian raised his hand to stop him, then sighed, and said: "We people seem to be beautiful, but what we can rely on is only the emperor's favor, and now that the Song commander is not here, no one in Jinyiwei can enter and leave the palace at any time like him, and he will lose the convenience of meeting the king at any time, so the biggest advantage of our Jinyiwei is gone." In addition, the emperor also used Liu Tie and others to take over the palace guards, if we can't do something, we will be forgotten by the emperor, and then it will be a catastrophe for us. ”

"Ahh Li Chuang couldn't help but exclaim, he looked around nervously, and then said in a low voice: "So the eldest brother agreed to the adult?" And he didn't tell the truth in front of the emperor? ”

"Yes, if I had said that, according to the emperor's favor for that person, I am afraid that he would also be unscathed, but we would have to face the retaliation of that person; And if that one is unlucky, do you think we will have good fruit to eat? I'm afraid the emperor will dislike us even more, then we will really have nothing to do. Therefore, the eldest brother can't say it, and he has to do this errand beautifully. ”

......

Several people who assisted Zhu Yunwen in handling the government said goodbye to each other after walking out of the palace, Wang Du looked at the backs of Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, and sighed slightly. I don't know when I started, I was excluded from the circle of Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng, Fang Xiaoru and others, although I was still polite on the surface, but I didn't say anything in my heart anymore.

He used to be the protégé of Fang Xiaoru's father, Keqin Gong, and he had been friends with Fang Xiaoru for many years, and it was because of Fang Xiaoru that the emperor reused himself. It's a pity that now it's drifting away, Fang Xiaoru quarreled with himself last time, accusing himself of being a minister, agreeing with the emperor, forgetting his duty as a scholar, he was not convinced, developed into a quarrel, and finally broke up unhappily. From then on, Fang Xiaoru no longer paid attention to himself, and even if he saw him, he didn't say hello. Alas, Wang Du sighed and went home.

Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng didn't know Wang Du's complicated emotions, and even if they knew, they wouldn't care. The two took the four-wheeled carriage given by Zhu Yunwen and went all the way west to Huang Zicheng's house. Huang Zicheng called the porter, said a few words, and then took Qi Tai in.

Den.

Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai sat opposite each other, silent.

After a long time, Qi Tai said first: "Zicheng, Zhu Youjiao's performance is your hand and foot, right?" ”

"Hehe," Huang Zicheng smiled: "I still can't hide it from you, Brother Qi, I did it, I found Feng Xingjian, the envoy of Jinyi Weibei Town, and he sent someone to Kaifeng." It happened that Zhu Youjiao was jealous with the prostitute and killed someone, although he was pressed down by Zhou Wangfu, but in the end he was found by Jinyiwei as evidence. In order to survive and get rid of the crime, Zhu Youjiao wrote the report. ”

"What?" Qi Tai was shocked: "You are actually looking for Jinyiwei?" What else do you have to do with them? ”

"No, I'm just using them, the emperor has always hated Jinyiwei, they can't live in fear, now they can only rely on me and wait, otherwise they will be eliminated sooner or later."

Qi Tai was speechless, and after a while, he said, "That means it's all false accusations?" ”

"It's not all, King Zhou does have a lot of lawlessness, do you know his previous long history Wang Han?"

"Know a little, it seems that I went crazy later and disappeared."

He just discovered King Zhou's abnormal movements, and repeatedly advised King Zhou, but King Zhou did not listen. And the court regulated, the vassal king rebelled, and the first asked the long history, so he had to go crazy, as for whether it was true or not, no one knew. Later, the king of Zhou reported the matter to the imperial court, and the imperial court sent a new long history, after which this Wang Han disappeared. However, according to Zhu Youjiao, it seems that he was secretly disposed of by King Zhou. ”

"Huh? This King of Zhou is so bold that he dares to execute the long history of the imperial court? ”

"At that time, Wang Han was no longer a long history."

......

After a while, Qi Tai said: "Zicheng, I don't quite understand, the emperor seems to have changed before and after he ascended the throne, he was very keen on cutting the feudal domain before, but now that he has ascended the throne, he doesn't seem to care." ”

"Yes, I'm also very confused, I thought that the emperor would immediately order the arrest of King Zhou, and I have already thought of who to arrest."

"Who?"

"Li Jinglong, the Duke of Cao, he is the only Duke of the Imperial Court who has been on the battlefield, his appearance is extraordinary, he is relied on by the first emperor, and he is excellent in everything he does."

"Li Jinglong?" Qi Tai thought for a while, shook his head and said: "I'm not very optimistic about this person, I feel that there is a feeling of Zhao Kuo, and the last time I participated in the war, I was also defeated." ”

"Even Fu Youde, the Duke of Yingguo, was killed in battle, what can he do? It's nice to come back alive. ”

Qi Tai said: "Forget it, I can't talk about you." But it's useless, looking at the emperor's meaning, it seems that he doesn't want to deal with King Zhou. ”

"yes, but I'm really not reconciled."

Qi Tai looked at Huang Zicheng suspiciously, and said after a long time: "Zicheng, we are all strong advocates of cutting the domain, but I am not as persistent as you, can you tell me why?" ”

Huang Zicheng stood up, looked outside, then walked back, sat opposite Qi Tai, and said in a low voice: "Then Brother Qi, why are you cutting the domain?" ”

"I think the first emperor granted too much power to the vassal kings, all dynasties, the vassal kings also had a feudal party, but there were very few who gave the guards, even if the first prince was alive, there was no guarantee that these vassal kings would not rebel, not to mention that the current emperor is just their sons and nephews. If the current emperor does not deal with it, and in future generations, the more than 20 vassal kings divided by the imperial court will have more than 10,000 troops, such as King Yan and King Ning, and more than 100,000, and I am afraid that the Ming Dynasty will reappear at that time, and the tragedy of five dynasties and ten kingdoms. ”

"Well, that's what you're worried about, I see, in your opinion, you just need to remove the vassal king's military power."

"Yes, then there will be no threat to the vassal king."

Huang Zicheng leaned forward, his hands were on the case, he stared at Qi Tai, and said in a deep voice: "Brother Qi, my ambition has never been said to anyone, you are the first, I hope you can help me keep it a secret." ”

"Well, no problem." Qi Tai's eyes widened as well, and there was some joy in his heart. Maybe it's human nature, and they are all curious about other people's secrets, but they don't know that if they know too much, they can't be friends, or even coexist, under a sky.

"At that time, Ye Boju, the Confucian instructor of Pingyao, was too extravagant to divide the book, which angered the first emperor and finally died in prison. However, when I entered the Zhan Mansion, I found that Mr. Ye's "Book of Ten Thousand Words" was in the collection of the former prince. I still remember the expression on the face of the first prince, who seemed a little nervous, took the book from my hand, and put it in the innermost part of the shelf. ”

"Later, I gradually discovered that although the crown prince was noble, his power was not as good as that of the kings."

"The king of Qin in Shaanxi to build a large number of buildings, hard work, bullying the court officials, Doumen Zhixian Lin Yun was beaten for dissuading the Qin Wang's generals from requisitioning timber, Shaanxi Inspector Yushi An Ran exposed the Qin Wang's generals in the name of the army to indiscriminately requisition the people's land, was retaliated by the Qin Wang's generals, and was burned by the rebels and almost died. At that time, the imperial history Zhou Guanzheng, Han Yike and Zhang Laisu, who had participated in the politics of Shaanxi, were all impeached, but they were severely punished by the first emperor, and the king of Qin even privately collected Fanyong in Qinghai and Gansu and made it his own pro-army. ”

"The king of Jin levied and plundered the people's wealth in Shanxi, for example, the local peasants, in addition to paying state taxes, also had to pay the birthday salute of the king of Jin every year, the amount of which was three times the amount of the state tax. Past merchants, and even the official caravans of the imperial court, had to pay him a protection fee. The daily expenses are also amazing, as a vassal king, although the court has a generous gift every year, but he only uses it for the rest of the month. ”

"Later, the King of Qin and the King of Jin were punished by the first emperor, and the first prince was benevolent and protected them, I felt very sorry at the time."

"In addition, the prince's fortune of my dynasty is very rich, with an annual salary of 50,000 stone and 50,000 ingots of treasure money, although it has now dropped to 10,000 stone, but the prince's son is the prince, the rest of the county kings, the county king's son-in-law is the county king, and the rest of the town generals, so if it continues, how many people do you think I have to be able to feed so many vassal kings?"

"I have discussed with the officials of the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Industry, and they are also complaining that the vassal king's income, the construction of the palace, weddings, funerals, birthdays, etc., all need to be paid by the state, and the burden of the state is heavier than one day. Yu Shangshu of the household department presided over the reduction of the vassal king, indicating that the first emperor was also aware of this problem, but what should he do in the future? When is the end? ”

Qi Tai looked at Huang Zicheng dumbfounded, as if he had just known him, and after a long while, he said cowardly: "So, Zicheng, how far do you want to cut the domain?" ”

Huang Zicheng said that he was excited, and said a little crazy: "I want to persuade the emperor," he slammed his fist on the table and roared in a low voice: "Abolish all these vassal kings as concubines!" ”

Looking at Qi Tai's stunned appearance, Huang Zicheng sat down, picked up a cup of tea, drank it all, and said, "How?" Brother Qi, what are my ambitions? ”

Qi Tai stretched out his finger, pointed at Huang Zicheng, and said in a low voice: "Zicheng, you are crazy, how is it possible?" The emperor may be able to depose his uncle as a concubine, but what about his brother, his son? Could it be that every generation of emperors of the Ming Dynasty had to cut down the feudal domain? ”

"As the brother of the former emperor, isn't it enough to enjoy a lifetime of wealth?"

Qi Tai looked at Huang Zicheng blankly, and finally understood that the gap between himself and Huang Zicheng was not the gap between the Qinhuai River and the Yangtze River that he thought before, but the gap between the small river ditch at the door and the water of the Tianhe River.