On the second day of the first month of April, Bailiyan ushered in an uninvited guest, without any warning and did not greet in advance, Gongliangxiu suddenly "airborne" into Chenling, which caught Bailiyan off guard. In the afternoon of the same day, he hurried back to the Lingling, and Gongliangxiu was mysteriously hidden by Jiang Rong on the second floor of the tea pavilion in the backyard.

"Don't let people come over to inform you before you come, the gods are mysterious, and you are not afraid of King Zhi's suspicions."

Gongliang Xiu smiled lightly and raised his hand to give a slight salute:

"Hehe, take the liberty to visit, if you disturb the Marquis of Yongxing, I hope to bear with me."

"Forget it, you and I are old acquaintances, no need to be so polite, sit down."

After speaking, Bai Liyan turned to Jiang Rong and said:

"Go and prepare some meat dishes, I'm going to talk to Brother Gongliang."

"Hmm."

Jiang Rong exited the small pavilion and closed the door casually. Bailiyan sat down and took a sip of water, took a breath and asked:

"Secretly, I wonder if you must be anything good. Tell me, what is going on? ”

Gongliang Xiu stepped forward and whispered:

"Since I asked, I will be blunt. Let me ask you, when will your Xianguo send troops? ”

"What do you ask about?"

"Tao Yong is seriously ill, and it will be in these few months."

"Oh...... I understand, as soon as Tao Ji dies, your Gongliang family will be able to stand on their own. ”

In recent years, there have been major changes in the country, and the eldest son of King Zhi died unexpectedly in October 647 of Shengyuan, and there was a major disagreement on the issue of the new crown prince, so the Gongliang clan was given a chance, and at the same time a third force emerged.

At present, the system of standing up is followed, and if the eldest son dies, the next son will take over. But it happened in childhood and adolescence, and it was all okay.

I'm afraid that it will happen in the prime of the prince's prime, and when the other princes are in the prime of life, the prince will die, and the remaining sons have formed their own power groups, and have attached other magnates in blood.

Zhiguo contracted an illness and died violently when the crown prince was in the prime of life, which created an opportunity for the other brothers to seize the throne.

In order to solve the situation of the dictatorship of the Xun Qi to control the military and the government, in recent years, the King of Zhi has successively supported several of his sons to become bigger in the local area, and acquiesced in expanding the strength to defend the royal family, while constantly suppressing the Gongliang clan and gradually stripping it of its political assets.

As a supporter of King Zhi, Tao was naturally exempted from King Zhi's power cut, but the problem was that Tao Yong's eldest granddaughter married the prince, and the second granddaughter married the fourth son of King Zhi, betting on two treasures, and the second son of King Zhi had no political ambitions, but he had excellent character and noble morals, and his literary talent was extraordinary.

Then talk about the Gongliang family, Gongliangwen and Gongliangchen's uncle and nephew support the third son of King Zhi, the reason is very simple, the third son and the fourth son do not deal with each other, but the relationship with the second son is good, and more importantly, the third son fell in love with the daughter of the Gongliang family. Therefore, if you can hold the third prince, then there is no need to rebel, and the risk of helping the third prince to ascend the throne and overthrowing the Tao family is smaller than the rebellion.

Since the Gongliang clan supported the third prince, the Tao family had two choices, supporting the second prince as the crown prince, or choosing to support the fourth prince as the crown prince. The cost is the lowest and the risk is the lowest, and the second son should be supported, so justifiably, even if the Gongliang clan opposes it, it is invalid according to the convention.

Now the problem lies in the Tao family, King Zhi is inclined to the second son to succeed to the throne, and the Tao family insists on the succession of the fourth son, in this matter, the Tao family has an unavoidable problem, the uncle of the second son of King Zhi killed Tao Yong's second son.

This matter has to be traced back to the battle of Qianyue Mountain, the uncle of the second son was afraid of the war, and failed to rush to the predetermined place to respond, resulting in the death of the second son of Tao Yong, the Tao family hated to break a big hole, and wanted the Tao family to support the second son to ascend the throne, and in the future they had to face the risk of being squeezed out by the second son's uncle, and even killed.

Of course, the decision is up to King Zhi, King Zhi can designate four sons to succeed to the throne, but Gongliang will definitely not buy it, since he does not choose the second son, then why choose the fourth son, the primogeniture inheritance system, how can it not be the turn of the fourth son.

As a result, the original situation of the two dominance formed a tripartite stalemate, the civil official group headed by Shangguan Taiyue supported the second prince, the military group headed by the Gongliang clan supported the third prince, the Tao group supported the fourth prince, and King Zhi preferred the second prince, but he was undecided.

In Bai Liyan's view, Zhiguo now does not need a strongman, but an administrative monarch who can govern internal affairs. Shangguan Taiyue, who was proficient in the calendar, agriculture and finance, was very aware of the domestic situation, and it was obviously the most suitable for him to be succeeded by the second son.

The third prince has mediocre qualifications, is not suitable for being the monarch, and is easy to be controlled by the Gongliang clan, and the fourth prince is too competitive and competitive, and he can command the army, and it is obviously not good to inherit the throne and govern the world.

But what Bai Liyan was puzzled was why the Gongliang clan didn't support the second son? Even if there is a marriage relationship in the future, supporting the second prince can obviously directly hit the Tao family, and reduce the suspicion and vigilance of King Zhi to a certain extent, and it is obviously not wise to support the third prince.

Thinking of this, he asked Gongliangxiu:

"Since Shangguan Taiyue supports the second son, and the second son is humble, why don't you support the second son, but support the third son, it won't be just for a marriage contract."

"It seems that you have also discovered the clues, and I won't tell you that after the death of the crown prince, the call for the second son to succeed to the throne is getting louder and louder. It stands to reason that the third son and the second son are good friends, the eldest brother supports the second son, and the third son can understand.

But the second prince had already fallen in love with the princess of the Jin Kingdom, and King Zhi reconciled with the Jin Kingdom many years ago, so that he could free up his hands to deal with my family in the future. Now the second prince and the princess of the Jin Kingdom have a secret affair, and in the future, the second prince will ascend the throne, and it is inevitable for the Shangguan Taiyue to marry the Jin Kingdom.

If it marries the Jin Kingdom, it will have no impact on my family, but it will not necessarily be beneficial to the Xian Kingdom. On which day the Jin State and the Xian State went to war, Shangguan Taiyue killed two birds with one stone, first fell into the well and stone your Xianguo, and then let my family and the Tao family jointly lead the army to fight, so that Shangguan Taiyue will spit out the old and accept the new and gradually collect the military power.

Moreover, the relationship between Tao and the second son is not harmonious, if my family supports the second son, Shangguan Taiyue will inevitably use my family to attack Tao in the future. If the Tao family falls, Shangguan Taiyue Yan can let my family go. ”

"Oh...... I understand, you are worried that your lips will be cold and your teeth will be broken and cleaned up one by one by Xiangguo. ”

"Exactly, otherwise the uncle and brother would not be able to support the third son."

"But this is a battle for your country, what are you doing here?"

"I pondered, you will definitely send troops to attack the country, so if there is an internal change in our country, if my family occupies the top, King Zhi may not allow it, and it is very likely to persuade the king of Xian to attack me with troops in Ganfu, Shangguan and other places, so as long as the country of Xian uses troops to defend the country, there is no excuse for dividing troops."

"This is Zhi's internal affairs, how could King Zhi lead the wolf into the house. Besides, the dispute for succession originated in the capital palace change, and if it were not for the protracted impact on the whole country, it would not have attracted the intervention of other princes. Moreover, my king has no interest in interfering in the internal strife of your country, so he will never send troops. At that time, if your family occupies the top, I will not send troops. ”

Yongxing Hou thought about this matter simply. At that time, Fengyangjun rebelled, affecting the entire territory of Xianguo, and in the end, it did not immediately attract the Jin Kingdom. Now that the Xianguo reform has been successful, most of the land has been returned to the imperial court, and the power has been greatly weakened, but the Zhiguo is very different.

There are many fiefdoms and magnates in various places, everyone has private soldiers, once the palace changes, whether it is successful or not, it will affect all places, and the old princelings have not yet made their attitudes clear, and the other sons have their own plans, even if they succeed, they still need to suppress the nobles in various places.

If King Zhi is dissatisfied, summon the old Department of Tao and the nobles from all over the country to fight back, civil war will be inevitable, in order to avoid greater losses, King Zhi will ask for help from the Xian State, attack me from behind, and then lure the King of Xian with heavy profits, and the King of Xian may not be moved. ”

Gongliangxiu's analysis is still reasonable, there are countless cases of internal affairs and even civil wars that have triggered military intervention and intervention by other countries, and Zhiguo, as the nominal overlord, will obviously not mind stabbing at this time in the event of civil strife, especially the Jin State.

Even if the Gongliang clan succeeds in seizing the heir, it makes King Zhi feel dissatisfied and worried, and he is bound to launch a counterattack, with the current power of the Gongliang clan, the result can only evolve into a protracted civil war, and it is impossible to quickly end the civil strife, and once it develops into a civil war, the result is difficult to predict.

Although Xu Guo formed an alliance with Zhiguo, he must be uncomfortable in his heart when he cut off the big fat meat of Ziyuan County, and it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no situation where the Jin State will recreate the situation of pulling Fengyang Jun to fight King Xian. And the intervention of external forces is not the result that Gongliang, Tao, and Zhiwang want to see.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, to quickly quell the civil strife and reduce the risk of intervention by major powers, the only way to lure King Xian to send troops with heavy profits is to attack the Gongliang clan behind his back, and not give the Jin State a chance to intervene.

After all, Xianguo is the lower state of the Jin State, the territory is not big or small, the population is small, invite the Xianguo to send troops, theoretically do not have to worry about the Xianguo taking the opportunity to ask for more after the fact, if so, King Zhi can immediately turn his face and turn back to the Jin State and even the Wei State to negotiate and attack the Xian State.

And King Xian, out of interest considerations, is indeed likely to accept King Zhi's invitation and send troops to attack the Gongliang clan. If no troops are dispatched, it is very likely that King Zhi will destroy the Gongliang clan, and there will inevitably be a rift between the two countries in the future. Despite the fact that Zhiguo has never been kind, the superficial kindness is always stronger than tearing his face.

Therefore, there is some reason why the Gongliang clan is worried that the Xian State will send troops to intervene, but it can also be seen that King Zhi's distrust of the Gongliang clan has reached the extreme.

"Listening to my brother's meaning, King Zhi still seems to trust Tao more, so it is very likely that he will suddenly change his mind and support the fourth prince."

"Exactly, if this is the case, it is necessary to unite with the country to punish Tao. The fourth prince is stubborn and self-serving, and he is not a candidate to be the king. And if he is king, it will be bad for my family in the future. ”

"Then have you ever thought about what the consequences of King Zhi are still here, and launching a coup d'état under his nose, and why does Xiangguo Shangguan Taiyue support your family."

"As long as the Tao family is killed, my family can support the second son to succeed to the throne in exchange for the support of Xiangguo."

"Oh......" Bai Liyan sighed coldly, and then said: "You guys are ruthless, in the name of the third son, kill the fourth prince and destroy the Tao family." backhand and then support the second son, so that your family will be dominant from now on, Xiangguo and King Zhi don't want to choose, and they only cooperate with your family. But your family supports the second son in the end, how will the third son feel, have you ever thought about it. ”

"The third prince is good friends with the second son, and he is a man of temperament, as long as he gets a woman, it is not difficult for him to give up the throne."

"It seems...... You've all figured it out. Then, when he came to me this time, Brother Gongliang should have calculated Benhou. ”

Gongliangxiu smiled mysteriously and said incomprehensibly:

"Or did I just ask you about it, when will you send troops to attack?"

"At present, the Changsun State has sent several envoys to lobby our king and bribe hundreds of officials, but the arrogance of defending the country is flourishing, and the eldest grandson has fallen behind, and the hundred officials are now talking about the change of color, plus the two countries have signed an agreement, if there is no strong promotion, there will still be no war with the defense country in the short term."

Bailiyan clarified the stakes, and then said:

"However, I plan to send troops to defend before this year's summer harvest, and I will not delay the autumn harvest at the latest. Therefore, even if Tao Yong can't delay until his death, Xianguo will not send troops, and Brother Gongliang can rest assured. ”

"Are you serious?"

Gongliangxiu asked solemnly, and Bai Liyan nodded in affirmation:

"Really. If we don't do it this year, it will be more and more disadvantageous in the future, especially since I am worried that the armpit people are about to go south, so I must solve it quickly. ”

Hearing Baili Yan's words, Gongliangxiu's face became strange, and he asked sarcastically:

"You're serious!"

"Believe it or not, anyway, your Zhiguo is hiding behind my Xianguo, and the armpit people will invade the Central Plains in the south, and it will also bear the brunt of my Xianguo, and your Zhiguo can see death without help."

Hearing this, Gongliangxiu's expression changed slightly, and he became serious again:

"According to you, is there really such an immortal monster in the world?"

"Didn't you say it, believe it or not. If you don't believe me, I have a transcript of the confession sent by the royal guest here, so you might as well take a look at it for yourself. ”

After speaking, Baili Yan called Wei Qi:

"Wei Qi!"

When he was young, Wei Qi pushed the door in:

"What does Master Hou command?"

"Tell the eldest lady to go to the red lacquer box on the third frame of the second row No. 16 in my study and get it."

"No!"