When everyone left the Qianqing Palace, their mood was not high, although not everyone agreed with the emperor's plan, but no one came up with a better plan, so it could only be decided by the emperor Qiangang. And one of the most depressed people is Huang Zicheng, he feels that the emperor has changed, no longer obeys his words as he did at the beginning, he originally had a certain degree of confidence in recommending Li Jinglong, but he didn't expect the emperor to even think about it, and he didn't even want to let himself mention, and finally the emperor chose two low-level officers Ping An and Sheng Yong to lead the army, which made him even more disappointed, so he did not accept Qi Tai's invitation to sit together, but chose to go back home alone.

After Huang Zicheng returned to the mansion, the housekeeper immediately came to say, "My lord, Cao Guogong is here again." ”

"Again?" Huang Zicheng was a little impatient, and then said, "How long have you been here?" Where are you now? ”

"It's been an hour in the living room."

"An hour?" Huang Zicheng immediately understood that Li Jinglong heard that he had been summoned into the inner hall and hurried over to listen to the results.

"Let him wait a while, and just say I'll wash up and come over."

Huang Zicheng freshened up a little and walked to the study, thinking about things as he walked. Li Jinglong is the general he admires the most, and he is very in line with the standard of a Confucian general in his heart. In layman's terms, Li Jinglong is very delicate, he reads a lot, and he is very angry, but there is a pride in his demeanor, this special temperament coupled with his identity as a national prince makes people involuntarily close, Huang Zicheng is one of them.

Although Huang Zicheng admires Li Jinglong, he wants to reuse him for deeper reasons. He hoped that the Ming Dynasty could use Wenchen to lead the army like the Song Dynasty, but it was impossible at present, but he could first use Li Jinglong, who was most like a literati, to lead the army. In all fairness, Huang Zicheng did not agree with the emperor's caution, and in his opinion, mobilizing the whole country's army to attack Beiping with the overwhelming force of Mount Tai was a sure victory.

And Huang Zicheng is still a little selfish, Li Jinglong has been a little anxious recently, he was reused in the first emperor but he has nothing to do in this dynasty, Xu Huizu and Chang Sheng have been given important tasks, but he seems to have been forgotten by the emperor, so he found Huang Zicheng, hoping that Huang Zicheng can recommend him to the emperor, in order to achieve this purpose, Li Jinglong promised to completely obey Huang Zicheng's orders, so once Li Jinglong led the troops, Huang Zicheng could display his ambitions and realize the long-cherished wish of civilian officials commanding military generals. It's a pity that the emperor doesn't agree, alas......

Huang Zicheng strode into the living room and laughed: "Brother Xian, I don't know what happened when I came to the door today?" Zicheng has official business, and he is far away, and he still looks at Haihan! ”

Li Jinglong hurriedly stood up, greeted Huang Zicheng, and said with a smile: "Brother Zicheng, you are the emperor's minister, and you have a lot of opportunities, unlike me, an idler, who has nothing to do every day, and can only borrow chess and drink tea to kill time." ”

"Hehe, Brother Xian said with a smile, come, please sit, please sit."

"Brother Xie Zicheng."

After the two sat down, Li Jinglong asked, "I don't know what happened to the emperor summoning Brother Zicheng?" ”

"Brother Xian, there was a big incident ahead today, and the emperor was furious, so he summoned Zicheng, Qi Tai and others to discuss the military situation together."

"Ahead? Is it true? ”

"Brother Xian, it really deserves its name, in a word, it is like this, this morning Changxing Hou Geng Bingwen sent a notebook, the content is ......"

"The emperor has issued an order just now, and the envoy should have left Beijing now."

Li Jinglong was also surprised when he heard Geng Bingwen's time, but then he realized that this was an excellent opportunity, and when he heard that the emperor thought that there was no one who was in charge of the general, he couldn't help but sigh, and when he heard that he was divided into the eastern and western theaters and the candidates for the leader, Li Jinglong was even more depressed.

After Huang Zicheng finished speaking, Li Jinglong asked in a low voice, "I wonder if Brother Zicheng has recommended the younger brother?" ”

"This," Huang Zicheng hesitated, looked around, and said, "Brother Xian, did you have something to annoy the emperor, the emperor doesn't seem to be willing to use you." You tell your brother, and your brother will help you plead in front of the emperor. ”

"This," Li Jinglong scratched his head and said with a wry smile: "Brother Zicheng, it's not that the younger brother is reluctant to say it, but the younger brother doesn't know the reason, when Xingzong was here, the emperor still trusted the younger brother very much, often got close to the younger brother, and liked to ask the younger brother for advice on the art of war; But since Xingzong passed away and the emperor was made the prince, he suddenly began to reuse Xu Huizu, Chang Sheng and others, but he became more and more estranged from his younger brother. As for what the reason is, to this day, the younger brother is also puzzled. ”

"This is strange, it is impossible for the emperor to alienate the virtuous brother for no reason."

"That's why I'm looking for Brother Zicheng," Li Jinglong spread his hands and smiled helplessly.

......

After Li Jinglong left Huang Zicheng's mansion, it was already dark, but he declined Huang Zicheng's invitation to stay in the mansion for dinner and walked alone on the street. If it weren't for the guards who hugged him from front to back, as well as the luxurious Guogong regular clothes, Li Jinglong would look at his back like a down-and-out idler, walking aimlessly on Chang'an Avenue......

When I returned to the Cao Guogong Mansion by the Qinhuai River, it was almost late at night. Li Jinglong stood at the door, looking at the golden plaque on the door, he was a little confused, what did he do to be so disgusted by the emperor? But after thinking about it, I can't think of anything wrong with it. He tried his best to befriend Huang Zicheng, and another reason was that he hoped to be able to negotiate some tone from Huang Zicheng's mouth, but unfortunately Huang Zicheng didn't hear anything, and his repeated recommendations had no effect. The big letters on the plaque seem to remind him to work hard, otherwise the title that his father won in a hundred battles may end in his own generation. Thinking of this, Li Jinglong's heart swelled up with resentment for no reason......

Time goes back to the night before, and it's really set.

Geng Bingwen is not a blind and gullible person, on the contrary, he is a very cautious person, although he is sixty-three years old, he does not want to die. Since he decided to negotiate, he found that he had made a mistake, and he should not have let King Yan communicate with the generals, because since that day, he found that there were more and more people who supported the negotiation, and the concubine Li Jian, the messenger Zhang Bao, and the left deputy general He Fu all wanted to solve it through negotiations, and even his old comrade-in-arms Gu Cheng also had this tendency. Even now, I don't know who to believe.

Therefore, for the sake of tomorrow's negotiations, he was ready to become a benevolent if he did not succeed, and he ordered his sons Geng Xuan, He Fu and Gao Wei to guard the city of Zhending, with Gao Wei as the main one, and not to open the city gate unless he himself returned; ordered his confidant Liu Sui to guard the pontoon bridge on the south bank of the Hutuo River; ordered his old comrade-in-arms Gu Cheng to be in charge of the northwest battalion, and ordered him to attack the hill immediately when he saw the arrows on the hill, regardless of his own life or death, he must destroy King Yan in one fell swoop and quell the war; Of course, if King Yan really surrenders, then there is no need to ring the arrow.

He and Gu Cheng have been friends for decades, he believes that Gu Cheng will not harm him, but he is afraid that he will do something stupid, so he confessed to him in advance, told him his intentions, and stated that even if he died, he would leave King Yan behind, and then calm the war; And after his death, Gu Cheng will lead the army. At that time, King Yan was captured, and Beiping would inevitably be tied, and according to the emperor's promise, Gu Chengcheng could be promoted to duke. And he and Gu CD understood that the opportunity to be promoted to duke was very rare, mostly at the time of the founding of the country. Now that the emperor has set up a heavy reward, I am afraid that it will be the only chance from now on.

And Gu Cheng's reaction was as he thought, he wanted to negotiate on his behalf, but Geng Bingwen refused, because only by appearing by himself can he show enough sincerity, so that King Yan will appear, he knows King Yan too well, that is a very cunning person. In the end, Gu Cheng had no choice but to agree, but he also insisted that Geng Bingwen must survive and wait for him to rescue.

It's late at night, but Geng Bingwen is still thinking about tomorrow, and he will take Li Jian, He Fu, Zhang Bao and others to negotiate at dawn, hoping that tomorrow will end this rebellion and let the people of Daming suffer less......